Hawaiian Surprise--first grow--miracle nutes--400 watt hps

here i will be discussing my first indoor grow, room set up, and strain information. I hope to use this journal for my own betterment and future problem solving. Also i hope to answer some of the what if questions that come up with a non traditional set up.

i am currently 4 weeks into flowering. First i will post my recorded information and notes to this point, then i will continue to update as I complete this project. It is my intention to create a self sustain personal grow that will keep me supplied with cheap high quality smoke.

Room Set up



Strain details


links for reference of the three conjoined strains:

http://cannacentral.com/strains/big-bud/

http://cannacentral.com/strains/maui-wowie/

http://cannacentral.com/strains/northern-lights/


now this strain is 4 generations in the making so far and this is to be the final product, so at the end of the grow we will see if we got our strain mix percentages right for what we are looking to smoke.




Medium:

soil ( special compost garden soil mix, sand,light nutes, and peat moss)

water:

watering system is the clabber oasis auto watering system, this feeds and waters the flowering room and veg at the same time.

lights:

400watt hps for flowering and fish tank grow lights for veg. 12/12 in flower and 18/6 in veg.

Nutes:

miracle grow is used for both flower and veg, in a diluted solution.


room also has forced ventilation into an outdoor crawl space for dispersion into outside air. there is zero oder outside of the room.



I welcome all comments, questions and criticisms equally, this has become my hobby and i enjoy discussing it.



p.s.

I plead spell check! please forgive my grammar and spelling catastrophes as I never claimed to know what i am doing.

I just smoke here...

reserved for future use

Awesome man! Going to be nuts!!!!

30 Sep 10 [Day 0]
Seeds planted, water misting begins room temp 80+ humidity 40% outside dome. Soil mixture compost-peat-garden bed dirt.
1 Oct 10 [Day 1]
Fine white stringy mold appeared on top of soil of both trays, large water drops observed in on tray covers currently have removed covers and commenced ventilating.

3 Oct 10
First seedling sprouted (observed at 22:13), I have named him temporally Phil, also signs of a second soon to sprout.

4 Oct 10
(Time 10:03)
Two more seedlings appeared in same tray as Phil, secondary tray still shows little progress, however tiny green sprouts are appearing all over even on the sides of pots so I’m sure this is not the intended plant, they appear much smaller and brighter in color than the sprouts I know to be good. Have removed covers due to large water drops and allowing humidity to stabilize in the planters.



(19:52)
second tray has begun to sprout however 2 of the 3 Inc sprouts are discolored with a green brownish black color. Tray 1 shows good progress with Phil leading the way by far the tallest one, I suspect Phil to be a male.


6 Oct 10 [Day 6]
First round of pics taken, 8 defined plants notice 2 in tray 2 are different in color and shape than the majority of tray 1 and 2.

















7 Oct 10 [Week 1]
Seedlings looking stretched so I placed them directly under the 4 foot Fluorescent, removed the cover from tray 1, Phil is touching the top, as of day 4 of sprouting 8 seedlings standing tall.

9 Oct 10 [Day 9]
Try 2 has one seedling touching the top now so the cover has been removed, all signs look good some appear male some female some have great looking distinct leaves others appear damaged and deformed from the seed. It appears that now at day 6 of sprouting no new sprouts have been seen leaving the total at 8 plants.
11 Oct 10 [Day 11]
Have noticed a lot of stretching and leaning to-wards the light, so I have replaced the red grow florescent bulb with re shop light white. Phil still leading the pack but tray 2 is catching up.


12 Oct 10 [Day 12]
When attempting to re pot Phil into larger pot, the dirt surrounding Phil’s roots collapsed and roots got pinched in the starter tray1 when tiring to push the dirt pod out of the tray, all 5 seedlings from tray 1 have been transferred to the fish tank. Time will tell but I feel I may have killed Phil. In retrospect the seedlings needed much more time till re potting, they weren’t even close to root bound. I also have concerns that the light in the tank will be enough, so I will be leaving tray 1 under the 4foot light for now.

















At the end of the seedling stage, i made these observations, the MH light is nitro for vegetation. while flouresents are way to slow for my liking. Also sprouts need at least 2-3 weeks before re potting, My 3L brown pots work the best. Male plant was suspected early due to fast growth and large size, this was a true assumption.

i give zero nutes at this stage because my soil is set for the first 4 weeks or more. this works great for not burning the weak seedlings.

the sexes were determined at the second week of flowering and all males were destroyed.




been running on 400 watt MH light for over 2 weeks now plant growth insane, all but three died prior to this stage, with new light they seem much harder to kill. Also added auto watering system feeding nutes miracle grow. Small problem with fungus nats, was solved with sand and coffee cups.
Also a few centipede things seen and doctor sprayed away. ill provide info on the insects i brought upon my self with my special outside dirt mix, in retro spect from this point the bugs were not hard to deal with just a couple sprays and they pretty much never came back plant growth has been insane with proper care, so i will continue to use my dirty outside greasy garden compost mix also sand has the added benefit of moisture retention while reflecting heat and light back up at the plants for super growing goodness.


(1-1) (2-1) (3-1)



I am now running HERB IQ I highly recommend downloading and using this soft wear, i really don't know how i lived with out it before!! thanks devs

CLICK HERE FOR HERB IQ






NOV 22 Clones taken from plants 1 2 3


i am now cloning with a heated clone greenhouse, rock wool and a rock wool condition solution, also using root tect compound. with remote temp humidity sensor i can now assure 98-99% clone life rate. I am toying with the idea of cloning in the aerogaden elite next time.



(3-2) (2-2) (1-2)
female female male




NOV 29
Another set of 3 clones taken 7 days later

3 main strains moved into the flowering area but MH light and veg cycle contiune for now. This is in prep for upcoming Flower stage.




























Dec 6 (Week 9 ) [6 in veg, 3 in flower total of 9]

Flowering commenced on first 3 plants 1-2, 2-1, 3-1.
Also switched to HPS light, remaining plants in veg, are in the veg tank.

Dec 13 ( 10 weeks )

Number 2 and 3 female, toped this day

Number 1 destroyed when found to be male, and all other number 1’s

2 clones from number 2 and number 3 taken for a total of 4 new starts.



Currently 2-1 and 3-1 are entering their 5th week of flower


plants have doubled in size already in the first month of flowering,

(2-1) 55.5" tall

(3-1) 39" tall


of these two plants i will be choosing the final Mother plant for my twisted strain.

plant (2-1) or Philadelphia rather is dam near 5 foot tall and loaded with popcorn buds, but gangly and long in the stem. this plant is the absolute max size i can accommodate with out light burn

plant (3-1) is slower to grow and shorter over all, plus its bush and full much nicer for an indoor grow, however she doesn't have the size buds oh her taller sister, so it will be a tough choice as to who to pick for mother of the strain.

i will need to weight for final curing and smoke feasts to decide what one is the keeper




In veg are
2-2
2-3
3-2
3-3


Long time since last update I will try to remember what has transpired. Low fungus nat production still, spraying with doctor’s seems to keep them at bay every time I see an adult. Continuing with the sand but having trouble with drainage in the veg tank,
REMINDER
next time no black pots only self contained pots now being used for flowing. Another note root bound has not been an issue so far with extra water cycles however may have gone too far due to mild signs of plant leaf stress I will have to continue to observe and report my finding later. Over all I’m impressed at the health and size of the main 2 plants left from the start that are in flowering mode.
Flowering
One month in flower to be exact and the remaining 2 females 2-1 and 3-1 are showing strong traits and similarities between the two however there are some apparent differences amongst them. Plant 2-1 has gotten to be 55.5” inches tall after 29 days of flowering while plant 3-1 has slowly creped to 39 inches showing strong I inch or so a day grow as of late.

Plant 2-1
Looks long and gangly with majority long stems and multitudes of popcorn bud structures. In my mind I wonder if this being half of the expected or normal flowering time will the buds fill out in time also will the plant grow to big and possibly damage the main cola or more before its eventual flowering ripeness is reached.
Light
This is due to the plants size and proximity to the sodium bulb at times I'm not sure if leaf stress in watering/nutes/or light burn, hopefully time will tell, I plan to stick with common sense in these matters. Light arrangement has been at max for a while now and having been arranged in a ton of places it seems max hight and max distance from large plant are helping however smaller one is seeing much stronger growth, this may be a trade off I need to balance with pot rotation.

Plant 3-1

Looks good Nice size and growth rate however I may have caused this due to low light in veg and flowering or more importantly less light angle. She looks beautiful and full exactly how I would want to see a finished bush. However due to thick canopy lower leaves and bud structures seem to be much smaller and less developed as their tree top level companions in full sodium glow. I still feel less pruning is more I may step this up more as time goes on, but I am reluctant to do this to any large extent.

Summation as of today
Plant 2-1 seems to have stalled at 55 inches or there abouts, I now fell maybe the lowered light angle its now seeing or nutes water may be affecting its growth but I tend to believe its reached its max size under these conditions or I hope. Cause this is already to large, next cycle I look to veg less on strain 2 for sure. The final yield and further issues will make my future choices on this listed issues.



and don't forget the dude will abide

various pics of flowering area and vegtank this is 5 weeks of flowering and between 29 - 36 days of veg time in the tanks for the standby generation.










Shit yeah, the achievers, yes, and proud we are of all of them

Nice grow, subbed!

Thanks just hope you can understand my cryptic writing style lol

Current issues, will the plant hit my ceiling or has their growth steadied out, i think the tall one has at 55 inch's and the short one at 39 is still screaming almost an inch a day. meanwhile my 400 sodium is playing twister around them to prevent burn, tilting the light at an angle at max distance seems to work well so far, i chalk this one up to the plants natural less degree of direct sun in the late summer months.

fungus nats i see one or two every other day, and i spray some doctors around and they stay pretty much contained.





Symphilids



haven't seen anymore Symphilids


after spraying for the two i saw

but here is their description

Small pests that are tan to white colored and look like centipedes. They are very deadly to the plants, because they burrow down into the roots and damage them by feeding of them. Your plants leaves will begin to die off. They are found mostly in soil composites that have not been cleaned, like soil that has additives in them such as animal manure.
(I know it will smell funny but sterilizing the soil in the oven for 30 min can kill any pests in the soil, heat to 350 for 30 min.) They are easy to tell if you have them, because they come to the top soil when your plant is being watered, if you find you do have them, use Fungus Gnat Killer (“B.T." a non chemical,biological control) in the powdered form. One application should kill it, just to be safe repeat every 7 days to kill off the larvae. Tobacco juice kills them as well! And nematodes.

also here is a link i use for pest identification CLICK ME

plants in flower are feeling light when picked up, also I'm getting lower than ideal moisture rating on my test meter. I suspect they are completely root bound and sucking mass amounts of water, so i have added another drippier per pot taking it up to 12 oz of water per day per plant. so far the claber oasis has been a god sent for me, i always leave it on the 10 day cycle and on days i think they need more water i simply make it do another watering cycle. this machine has saved my plant for i am always prone to over watering and before i got it i was killing plants right and left lol. I have already had a death in the family since i started this project and the value of this auto system was unmeasurable, for my attention was off my plants for over a week and my auto water and light systems kept all my little girls happy and alive with zero attention for over 8 days. now the system can be stretched to 40 days but at that point i don't think the plants would receive enough water to not become stressed. most likely that long under the 400 watt would require much more water than the small amount released by the oasis for the 40 day cycle. 10 day cycle seems to work quite well for maintaining my veg and flower areas at the same time.


Claber Video here

lol in the video he says can be used with all pot plants


plants in veg seem to be doing fine with one drippier and thriving quite well, i have already had to top one once to keep it inside the veg tank. i wonder if constant topping in the veg cycle due to my 14 inch hight requirement will produce a much bushier plant, this could work to my advantage next generation.

my current biggest problem is the constant cat ninja night attacks, they however are not eating the plants them selves because i learned my kitties are stoner's and love dried leaves so i always keep a few around the pots and they never hurt my live plants, i know it sounds like I'm drawing them in there but it doesn't matter the smell my of girls is like kitty Kryptonite and they cant stay away.
no the real problem from the cat attacks is that they push up my door which is black plastic just like Mr greens instructional video. and now i have a kitty sized light leak into my room, i have tried hot pepper juice on the door and dryer sheets and even a cat nip plant outside the room nothing has stopped them. i have them at bay for the moment by putting heavy objects on the base of my black plastic door.


oh yeah you may be wondering about the nutes issue, well i went against manufactures instructions and have been feeding my system a 1/2 to full dose of miracle grow nutes for the watering can size dose. and the results have been great better than i could have done by hand, but I'm sure the old timers here and growfessionals could much out due this automatic operations feeding. but the veg and flower on miracle grow solution every 3 third week has been good however i think next time i will only do it 2 times i feel that I'm pushing nute burn, my plants look great but i see slight spot or mark signs after my their feeding and i think i will cut it back next time and get perfect results. yes it is budding nicely in flower it will prolly not be as good as it could have with a better flowering nute set up, but i want to see how she does maybe it will be just fine i mean they are getting phosphorus but with the same level nitrogen from the miracle grow 20 -20 -20 i could also be seeing slight nutrient lock. i will use these notes to fine tune next grow.

that kb looks yummy!

noticing signs of heat stress and or calcium deficiency, or water stress maybe I'm not sure ill get some pics up tomorrow when the lights come on.

girls are on their 5th week in flower and all still looks really good but noticing marks on any of my leaves makes me worry!

Ive got a few random leafs showing light spots, this isn't an insect problem. i think i may have over watered and locked out some nutes maybe. but I'm trying to stay on top of this before anything gets out of control. so Ive already switched from nutes back to plain water. my current Ph is 6 not sure if i want to mess with it not being that far off. i know the damaged tips are from light burn, my tall plant has gotten bigger than i can handle lol so shes taken a tad bit of leaf edge burn on a couple leaves. its the spots I'm worried about because they are showing up on both plants now so its either water or nute issue.

OK I'm sure i have over watered now after running a meter through the plants, i got wet readings and the pots seem heavy when lifted. so i have removed one dripper per pot, obv 3 was to many per pot.

I wouldn't give them any water until the soil is completely dry.

its hard doing nothing lol well now i think i got a better feel for my limits in watering

well plants seem to be somewhat steady, i have noticed a few more spot-ed leaves but i feel that its gotten about as bad as it will (at least i hope!!!) still holding off watering and hand meter is showing a wet reading coming into the ideal range. i have flushed my irrigation system and replaced with fresh clean water, i will let the reservoir sit till tomorrow morning then restart watering cycle if plants look ready.

I have been reading about adding small amount of Epsom salts as an insurance picky and it can also help nutrient lock out so I'm debating adding 1/2 a teaspoon to one gallon water. i am now in the 5th week of flower. any opinions out there on this?

checked my plants this morning and they needed water via meter reading and lifting the pots. so i restarted my watering cycle with 2 drippers per flowering pot. I'm still debating adding Epsom if i feel its needed but so far plants are holding steady no new damage being seen on leaves either. so for now I'm going to run clean water and see what happens. my Ph seems to be a steady 6-6.5 but that is from a soil meter shrug. Ive noticed that my room temps is around 68 F now during the day due to the zero degree weather outside! so I'm going to keep a close eye on what temps my plants are seeing at night. many factors to consider here so I'm going to need to iron out what works best for my set up.

my plants are holding pretty steady now in height this being week 5 of flower and plant 2-1 is holding at 55 inches for a few weeks now and plant 3-1 has been hovering around 39 inches with no measurable growth, now i wonder is this due to plant stress or could it be pot bound( i have no plan to re pop larger than the 3 liter pots I'm using)

i may have a few marks on some of my leaves and the plants are not getting taller but my buds seem to be filling out nicely, and looking very sticky, with the scope i can see many nice mushroom tricomes forming, so all in all I'm headed in the right direction.


my next generation is going to be much better off than this one was, i have already toped one clone twice to keep it in the confines of my veg tank, and the lower leaf growth is ridiculous this thing looks to be a BUSH!




any advice or your own experience would be greatly appreciated. Oh i have decided to add 2 UFO 90 wat lights to my room, this way my tall plants wont have to be directly under the 400 hps having their leaves burnt since my ceiling is only so high.

yikes temps got down to 61 f last night in the room i have taken my fan off of 24 hours on and set it to run only when the lights are on, hopefully we wont have to many more -10 degree nights!


plants don't seem to be doing much seem almost stunted i wonder if this is from the nutrient and or water stress i put them under, hopefully its not the low temps everything i have read says its OK to see 60 degrees. I'm seeing 74-F with lights on.

i am now in my 5th week of flower and still see signs from last weeks nutrient burn, still doesn't look to bad but seeing spots on most leaves now I'm hoping that the fresh water pulls them out of this. i will get some pics up soon but they really don't look much different from the last set.