hey everyone.... intro and questions for the gurus....

Hey there everyone...!!

good to be here...

Welcome GM! There is lots of good info on these forums already. You might go through the indoor forum and read up a bunch on growing basics.

Only advice I have is to use grow tents, carbon filters, and hps for big sticky dense nuggets. Learning to cure is key too. 30-70% humidity for curing with minimal airflow but not too stale of air so humidity can be stable... ideally near 50% humidity is best. I pluck fan leaves, hang for 4 days or until sugar leaves crumble off or until stems can crack. After they are dried I trim the sugar leaves and jar them into mason jars.

I harvest my plants when there are at least 90% red or orange hairs and less than 5% amber trichomes

Welcome to RIU! Like beast said, the indoor growing forum here is unreal. I have only had to start a thread once to get help. Every other issue, question or problem i have had has already been adressed somewhere in this forum.

Your plants are looking good, what strain?

Jake

Hey thanks for popping in....

Seems like definitely a wealth of information here. I have been lurking for some time.....

I am on day 18 from seed.... first grow...

I originally germ'ed the 10 free kerala skunk seeds (regular- non-fem)... wanted to make my mistakes on the free ones before anything expensive. 10/10 germed, killed 2 along the way everything labeled KS is same age. FYI: 5 started in soil, 5 in rockwool- the 5 soil are the 5 biggest.

using FFOF/perlite mix (may try happy frog with it next group bc of reviews)

transplanted and flushed the 4 in buckets last night.....used short layer of egg rock, short layer of pea gravel, FFOF/perl...

I am planning on FIMing or topping at least the tallest today.... it is 5 nodes tall + the top....

In the veg tent they are under a 400MH/HPS, a 60w LED blaster, 3CFL to balance spectrum and add heat on cool nights.... running panasonic whisperline in-line fans 440cfm, and 340 cfm... I know this isnt typical but they work great and are quieter than my small fan.... and they were free...

Decided to go with CO2 enrichment, will have regulator, tank by wed..... have been tossing back and forth which meter I want... I will be doing a DWC system as well, to compare to soil, but I will probably wait a month to start water, despite having most of the requirements already.... at the moment I am thinking blulab combo meter ($384)
but would love suggestions....

Have a 600w MH/HPS waiting in flower tent.... I actually have about (6) 6-watt led blasters too (5700k) may add those in to the flower tent.....

Right now my only issues are whether or not to top or FIM..... so I may do 1 top, 1 FIM, and have 3 control plants until I learn from experience, or keep reading until something changes my mind....

anyway... thanks for peeking in... I hope to learn a whole lot over the next few months

oh yeah.... the big nute debate is already going on in my head....

GH FloraNova get's my vote for price and simplicity. They are super concentrated and last a long time. I have used the entire House and Garden line and the FloraNova side by side and I that is what turned me off to all the expensive snake oil. I do like to use a root stim and the additives Floralicious Plus and KoolBloom, but the Grow and Bloom is really all you need. JMHO. GH has been around forever and a proven performer. The only draw back to FloraNova is you have to shake the shit out of it becaue it is so thick, also people who use sprayers or drippers complain that it clogs them occasionally. It's also not completley synthetic which I like.

Someone explained it to me like this: Why are compaines selling A+B, CalMag, Etc. Etc.? So you buy A, B, CalMag, etc. FloraNova is a ONE part fert, so I don't feel like they are trying to get one over on me. Many people have used just FloraNova Bloom and tapwater the whole way with great results, no calmag issues, and very stable ph readings. It's as simple as it comes and I think it performs on par with any other nutrient line. Just my two cents, everyone has what works for them. Welcome to RIU.

thanks, that's good info to consider, I will take a run with those on the next run...

I thought I was beginning to have a cal/mag problem after i switched to distilled (the original question behind this post that i edited out) .... so I said fuggit.... I need to make the water I have available work... i saw immediate good after switching back to tap.... as long as I hit each gallon with -4cc of ph down.... ive also been keeping an air pump and stone in my water.... (can't hurt- oxygenate the water and uniform solution after ph down--- at least in mind makes sense..)

I felt like i had to commit before my next feeding and bought the FF trio.... price wasn't terrible at all locally, and if their nutes match the results their soil has I can't imagine I will be disappointed....

so I will nute up during next feeding....

I decided to FIM at least the tall one tonight..... im also going to crop my lower fan leaves tonight.... i cringe at the thought.... I will probaby do at least two of them tonight....

maybe top two tomorrow, and leave a control.... not sure.... crossing my fingers for ladies....

FIMed three, chooped lowest branches on three, cropped leaves on one of them.... (They are 20 days from seed today)

pre-fim/pre-crop

FIM pics




this morning (7 hours later)


seemed to respond pretty well....

They are looking good. I do the exact same thing, I put an air stone in a 25gallon rubbermain bin. I let it sit out at least over night to let the chlorine evaporate before I put the lid back on. My thoughts were the same as yours regarding tap water, I should find a way to make it work. It's really the most practical thing to do. As long as your monitoring your ppm/ph you should be fine.

i have to say i noticed the biggest improvements when I added the 57k 60w blaster... and when my temps started dropping at night, I added (3) 1600 lumen 65k cfl's to offset the temp drop....

it really made a diff in the plant.... which leads me to considering maybe dumping the MH all together, and running the veg thru CFL or T5..... I have t5 fixtures for days....

I could drop a 6 light HO (or even 2) into my veg room no prob..... I can get the fixtures for free, but 65k T5 HO lamps are a doozy.... that would be over $200 in lamps for 12 and more wattage, Ive been using a 4 light t5 ho mixed spectrum for germination.... I wonder how a vertical mount would play out.... ?

hmm just thinking out loud really....

nothing seems to pass the time fast enough during the first grow....

day 21

fimmed tops- day 2

2.5 days after FIM.....



I have used essentially zero nutes so far.... micro doses early....

I was going to start FF veg nutes yesterday, but decided they could use one more day to dry.... I am excited to see the results tho....

I am still unsure how that fim worked out since I dont have the experience yet to accurately evaluate the new growth.... I still have to decide what to do with the control plants too... perhaps top them and compare to the fimming? I found some conflicting info on fim vrs top.... should prolly try top just for the experiences sake.... actually decision made.... I dont want the plants heights to get too much different.....

for the interested:
top left: cropped and fimmed 55hrs ago
top middle: fimmed 55hrs ago
lower left: control, untouched, took bottom two limbs off last night
lower middle: fimmed 55 hrs ago, cropped 12 hours ago
lower right: control, cut low branches last night

should have co2 enrichment going by monday....

all my runoff is testing fine.... so I think I am okay.... still a bit unsure about when exactly to transition to to flower.... not sure if thats something you get a feel for but I have good height availability so in my mind im thinking around 2-2.5 more weeks, they are 23 days from seed now...

just got my 20lb co2 tank ($185 for tank and filled, $45 for regulator, $10 for timer)..... should have the regulator at the house today.....

..... friggin controller is 500 $....

Gonna get sentinel after reading rviews.... and scrap cheaper regulator....

This is eating into my fun money for my denver trip to cannabis cup (4/20/14) !!

Well... CO2 got hooked up just in time....

temps started to spike with new set-up, hit 90 a few days and I have to give credit to CO2 because the girls didn't break a sweat....

I set up two ventilation systems... one w intake and exhaust outside to remove lamp heat 350cfm, and one to filter and circulate air within a closed environment to keep CO2 levels stable 440cfm....

I put em to sleep two days ago for about 36 hours, woke em up last night and DAYUMM!!!

just switched em to 600 HPS....

now my only concern is height..... the girls are 26" tall already-- today is day 39 from seed.....

6" in 4 days.... still waiting on sex results....

Having to run 600 at 75% to keep temps in 80's .... plants dont seem to mind at all since adding co2

Gonna start super cropping to keep em low after I sex em and know hw much room ill have

looking good bro! i would suggest raising that LED to same height as the HID.. right now your LED is blocking HID lighting that could be reflected onto your plants. Raising the LED will also help get a better coverage.

thanks....

i rerouted some of the ventilation and got back into the true 600 club right after that post.... separated the plants into two tents to give them room....

but lost three when I sexed em...... which I am quite okay with.... I have 2 x white widow, 1 x critical kush, 1 x Flower power, 1 x unknown medicinal strain, 10 days behind the girls in the tent....

I will put to flower after returning from denver....

Counting down to the Cannabis cup..... ready for a major altitude change in every sense of the word...





ohhh.... a little tidbit.... i cant imagine for the life of me what would make cloning solution (clonex, etc) worth the cost.....

those are 5 day old clones.... prepped using ONLY distilled water w/ a bit of cal mag then just cut and stick....

Scrogged up.....

Rabbit fence. .... it let me drop the light almost a foot.....

Odd situation w babysitter lost scrog 1 while I was at the cup.....

I decided to nix second screen bc of canopy diff...

Went to string to bucket. .... but.... scrog bends remained and are perfect.....

Handling trimming matters by "feel".... since its all new to me.... but Im thinking I should clear everything under 12-16 inches....