Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - 800W CAB SCROG

Excellent.....(said in mr. burns voice)

Imagine my delight when the postman arrived during the worst snow storm that Toronto had experienced in 5 years. That guy took his oath seriously "neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night will stop me from delivering marijuana cultivation equipment...". My Bluelab Guardian has arrived from the US! I was a little disappointed when the postman dinged me for the duty on it but it was still way cheaper than supporting my beloved Canadian economy. Interestingly it was labeled "baby monitor".



Here it is unpacked.



I set it up last night but my girls are in lights-out right now so no photos.

I did snap two photos while I was messing around last night.





It turns out I calibrated it incorrectly so it's reading .2-.3 on the high side but I'll correct it tonight.

Thats a nifty new toy. I've thought about getting something like that, the last electronic Ph tester I bought was relatively cheap, and it wouldn't stay calibrated for shit.(like I had to check it 1-2 times a week)

Plants are looking fantastic man, the buds are really setting in well it looks like from here.

Thundercat said:

Thats a nifty new toy.

Click to expand...

I've had it for running for 18 hours and I already really like it. Tomorrow morning when I'm getting ready for work/dealing with my kids AND trying to adjust my ph, then I'm going to love it.

I keep my box in my boiler room. My first run was over the summer/fall. Now that it is winter there is some machinery (furnace, boiler etc) creating a tonne of heat in there, in addition to my 800 watts of HID. The temps are running higher this grow and I don't like it. I think I'm going to connect the ducting to the box and vent it out of the room. I don't know much about home ventilation but I've got a handy father-in-law who has offered to help me.

Its so nice to have family you can talk to about this shit and get help from. I've got 2 older brothers like that, one grows, and the other is just very helpful!

Wow, do I ever love the Bluelab Guardian. It makes the constant pH battle way less arduous. It is also making me much aware of PPM level and my water level. I can now check all levels 10 times a day with ease and virtually no time. I called up BCNL to ask them how they install their continuous monitor, as it is similar, and the answer was simpler than I thought it would be.

Step 1
Insert probes into unused plant hole and submerge in res.


Step 2
Run wires out of the box and close the door on it. This part of the door has a think rubber seal on it so the wires aren't damaged.


Step 3
Insert probes into the monitor.


I've got to get some Velcro to mount it on the outside of my machine.

My PPM is as high as it is going to get. I'm at the start of week 4 of flower. You can also see that my res temps are too high, this is due to the heat issue I mentioned a few posts back. I'm going to try and get the ducting installed on Sunday.


Here are a few photos from last night.

Ok so its official I want a bluelab, I've wanted a good electronic meter for awhile, but that is sweet. Just look at the display on the wall and know if I gotta fck with anything!

The bluelab is an absolute delight.

In my last grow I ran my flowering cycle as 11 hours of light/13 hours of dark. I was planning on switching this grow to the standard 12/12 to compare the results. I've decided not to as I've also added the under lighting. I'm going to run my next grow with 12/12 (and under lighting) and compare results with this crop.

I'm also going to leave some of the underside bud in place to see how it responds to to the T5's on the bottom. If it helps properly finish some of the popcorn bud, it will hopefully add meaningful weight. If not, it's just another experiment that didn't pan out.

Here is an old photo to show the under light.

Looking great man, I really like the under lighting I hope it works for ya.

Great threads. Awesome journal. Beautiful plants.

Thanks!

Here is a photo of a random bud. I'm approaching the end of week 4 of flower.



Same shot but close-up. They're staring to get some nice crystals. You can see the leaf tips are showing a bit of nute burn. Something for me to work on for getting my grow dialed in. Grape Krush really is a fussy feeder.




Right when I stopped tucking growing tips back under the screen there were two that were taller than the rest. I really should have tucked them back under but they were in a crowded section of my screen. The two buds that they grew into are way larger than the rest. Fun to watch them grow but I believe this is exactly what you're trying to avoid with a scrog. The canopy should have been more even when I flipped to my flower schedule. They are in an awkward area to photograph but I'll attempt it this weekend.

Thundercat said:

Looking great man, I really like the under lighting I hope it works for ya.

Click to expand...

There are two things I'm looking for from the under-lighting. Fill out the bottoms of my large screen level buds. The second thing is hopefully make the popcorn bud worth growing. I'm definitely going to run the under-lights for my next grow but I may or may not yank all the small lower buds. I'll probably put all the popcorn bud on it's own drying tray so I can know exactly how much weight it added. Thundercat, what would be your break even point for making it worth it? I'm thinking 1.5 ounces.

The key isn't how much the popcorn weighs with or without the light, the key will be how much your other colas weigh with and without the popcorn.............

That is a good point. Last run I cleaned everything out below so comparing the weigh of the main buds should be easy enough. I love experimenting with each grow.

End of week 4 of flower












Here are two of my mother plant. She rarely makes the photo updates





Back to the canopy



The larger bud I was referring to is on the right. I tried to get a good photo but it is in an awkward position. It's
like an iceberg, the part you can't see is huge.





Here are some shots of the buds I left underneath the canopy.

Looking good nice and thick stems.

Fantastic man girls are really filling out and frosting up! You really did leave all the under growth, that looks like quite a ball of nug around the base of iit.

The first red hairs have showed up.

I just realized how out-of-focus the photo above is. My apologies.