TGA Vortex 400W Stealth Grow in Supersoil

I started this thread to track my next small stealth grow in a tricked out big city apartment closet, complete with descriptions and pics. I've used this particular setup for over a year now, and although it's small it works great. After cleaning up and disinfecting after last harvest, I'm ready to rock 'n' roll some more manufactured dank. I'm excited as hell to get underway and start what is probably going to be my best grow yet. I've upgraded my reflector, bulbs, and ballast and made some improvements to my set up, and I've had a whole batch of fresh supersoil closed up and marinating for over a week now. I'm now just waiting on my Vortex seeds from the depot, but I've already been informed a couple of days ago that they shipped so it's all good.

The Mix:
I didn't skimp on one single ingredient, and was able to source everything locally except for the Azomite and SP-90 Humate Acid powder(Picture 3), which I got online. This is my second grow with Subcool's supersoil, however I can't get Roots Organic where I'm at, so my first grow with supersoil I used a combination of a couple of Black Gold organic/cocofiber soils and some FF Light Warrior for my base soil. Although I had good results, I decided my base soil was a little off, and I don't think the mychorrizal fungi ever really took off and fully colonized, even after two months of sitting before use. I blame the Light Warrior, as that was supposed to be the source of Mychorrizae in that mix. This go round I ditched the Black Gold, and mixed up a full eight-bag blend consisting of a couple bags each of Biobizz Light and FF Ocean Forest, and then one bag of Biobizz coco mix and one bag of Light Warrior that I had left over. I also added a little bit of a locally made root defender that contains more mychorrizae fungi, as well as Rhizosphere bacteria and other organic bio-stimulants, just to make sure I get the breaking down and other organic action in the supersoil this time. The 2nd pic shows my leftover ingredients and the fully-mixed supersoil. That container is only half of the Supersoil I made! I've got enough supersoil to last me over two years probably, so I hope this base soil I mixed up works out.

The Setup:
I'm going to veg under a 400W Sunmaster Metal Halide and then flower with a 400W Hortilux, all under this PL Deep reflector that you see here. My grow area is 3' X 3', and all in all my setup was built quite cheaply, as I built and designed most everything myself. The removable wall is really the staple of this closet of dank. I cut it and shaped it out of 1" thick corrugated shipping cardboard that I got from a UPS store for 12 bucks, and then covered it with the white plastic and mylar, and installed two small but strong industrial intake fans that I wired through the board. I also covered the exposed fans with cat litter scoops that I removed the handles from -- ghetto, but it works great! I built that frame that you see my Sunlift light hangers and air scrubber attached to out of 1" x 3" wood studs that cost me 7 bucks total. I didn't want to drill into the ceiling, so this setup leaves no physical traces and can be broken down in less than 5 minutes. I also added some spongy shock absorbing foam tape to the stud frame ends to dampen sound and vibrations from the mounted fans, since my last couple of grows I felt like the fans were louder than I would like. There's a hygrometer on the back wall, and a carbon air scrubber at the top near the opening of the mylar curtain. I also have some of that anti-microbial black/white double-sided plastic lining the floor of the area with a brace on the door side, to keep water drainage from ruining the floor and also to hold the removable wall in place. I've never grown Vortex, but I have a feeling Subcool's not joking when he says that all of his strains have plenty of stank on 'em. I have the carbon fan filter facing out; it has an enclosed space behind it, or "accumulator" if you will, where that little envelope of dank air for discharge can rise and dilute with less-scented air before being drawn into the scrubber and blown out.

The Plan:
I'm going to germ 3 seeds, and my hope is to get one good female out of the three seedlings. If there's multiple females, I'll decide which one I want to keep and trade the others to a grow buddy for a future clone, or some bud or something. Now that I got a nice 400W reflector to work with, I'm going to top early and Veg for around two months or to a 24" height, transplanting from a 1 gallon plastic pot to a 7 gallon smart pot halfway through veg, and just train the one keeper into a bush that fills out the whole area. I'll post more pics in a couple of days, after my beans get here and I get them sprouting through the Rapid Rooters in my humidity dome. I'd like to thank Subcool for making me rethink my own organic mix and for creating an eight-week Sativa-dominant that I'm sure I will love. All in all, I got a good feeling about this grow, and if I don't end up in the clink, then I should be fully rewarded about four months from now with some beautiful meds for me and my fam. Thanks for checking out my thread!

J Dubs

Hey JW I'll reread your post again when I'm not so busy. I'm knee deep in my garden, but taking a bowl break (Vortex) right now. Seems like I have to read everything a couple of times to absorb it all. Cant imagine why!

Highlanders cave said:

Hey JW I'll reread your post again when I'm not so busy. I'm knee deep in my garden, but taking a bowl break (Vortex) right now. Seems like I have to read everything a couple of times to absorb it all. Cant imagine why!

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Hehe, yeah man, I hear ya. I got stoned when I took these pics and wrote this, and I may have gotten carried away with the details, but you know. . . How do you like the Vortex? I think I may concentrate on growing one strain for a while, and I'm hoping Vortex is that strain.

Vortex is pretty good smoke....are you looking for a sativa or an indica because Vortex has both phenotypes. I ended up with 4 females out of 6 seeds, and four phenotypes...two sativa and two indica. Out of those four, 1 of the sativas and 1 of the indicas could be considered keepers. One of the sativas was just very tall and stretchy and was not realistic to keep and one of the indicas starts throwing out nanners at 6 weeks

Well, I usually go for the Sativa dominant, just because I like that headie-type high for daytime smoking, but Sativas are a pain in the ass to train and wait on for flowering. That's why I chose Vortex -- I wanted to check out some of TGA's strains, and this 8-week Sativa dominant seemed like the right choice, especially after I checked out Subcool's youtube video postings about Vortex. I had just bought some Jock Horror beans that I still haven't tried, but my gut told me to get some Vortex and grow that now instead. I suppose that either phenotype will do, as both parents of Vortex sound good to me, and I'm only growing one to harvest, so the size is not too much of an issue. As long as it doesn't herm out on me, I should be a happy camper.

subscribed!! my sub box is empty and lonely no longer..
Looks good man, thanks for the info.. And PLZ dont stop journaling halfway thru

streetlegal said:

subscribed!! my sub box is empty and lonely no longer..
Looks good man, thanks for the info.. And PLZ dont stop journaling halfway thru

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Haha, thanks for the kind words man. And no worries -- I won't stop journaling. I got a sweet digital camera and a motormouth (er, motorfingers??), so I'm in it for the long haul!!

Cheers, happy toking, and PEACE!!!!

J.W.

J.W. said:

Haha, thanks for the kind words man. And no worries -- I won't stop journaling. I got a sweet digital camera and a motormouth (er, motorfingers??), so I'm in it for the long haul!!

Cheers, happy toking, and PEACE!!!!

J.W.

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see, told ya i was sub'd

Just got back from a bicycle ride to my PO box, and the beans are here!!!

I got my Rapid Rooters all soaked up in some distilled water, and got the Vortex seeds sewn button-side-down and in the humidity dome, sharing space with my "Space Coast" Cubensis, which have also been flourishing

Hopefully won't be long now. I checked all my connections in the grow area, gave everything a once-over, and fired up my fans and light just to make sure there's no issues. More pics and info to follow when I get sprouts, plant in 1-gallon pots, and start to harden-off the seedlings.

Im purchasing all the right things for supersoil but subcool never mentioned SP-90 Humate Acid powder should I add that in or no I currently have roots soil, epsom salts, worm castings,bat guano, dolomitc lime, azomite, blood meal n steamed bone meal thoughs are subcools exact intructions

tomwhotomme said:

Im purchasing all the right things for supersoil but subcool never mentioned SP-90 Humate Acid powder should I add that in or no I currently have roots soil, epsom salts, worm castings,bat guano, dolomitc lime, azomite, blood meal n steamed bone meal thoughs are subcools exact intructions

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You are missing something. Check this out bro.

subcool said:

This is my current mix that I grew this plant in


http://www.youtube.com/user/subcool420#p/u/6/8i1XmANdcfo


8 large bags of a high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizae (i.e., your base soil)
25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs Bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
¾ cup Epson salts
½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
½ cup azomite (trace elements)
2 tbsp powdered humic acid

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I highlighted where he mentions the humic acid. I believe SP-90 is just its solubility rating, meaning it's 90% soluble in water, which is really good. SP-85 would probably work, but I figured I'd get the 90 just to get a better breakdown. The humic acid is actually pretty important, so I hope you find this post before you mix!

whats up?got all the right factors for really nice grow,im gonna sit in on this one!

cool thnxs i cnt beleave i miss that detail r u making a smaller batch of super soil as i ? Im dividing by 4 on ingridients lik he mention in his forum but is that right ?

nvm ima just spend the extra dough now n it will pay off later
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tomwhotomme said:

nvm ima just spend the extra dough now n it will pay off later

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Dude, I don't think if I'd ever order soil online. Not only will it throw up red flags, but the shipping is gonna cost you a fortune!! I'm sure Roots is good, but if you do everything else right, I'm sure mixing together a couple of locally available well-balanced organic soils will give you good results. And yes, I mixed up an entire batch. I got enough to last me about two years, and the stuff just gets better with age!!

J Dub

Subscribed. I put 4 Vortex beans in a Bubbleponics system about 2 weeks ago, so it will be nice to compare and contrast. They germinate really fast and at 2 weeks they are some healthy looking wee beasties.

I decided after germ'ing those first three the other day that I wanted to give myself even better chances of getting that best female phenotype, so I planted a fourth seed in a Rapid Rooter the day after and put it in the humi-dome with the rest. I figured I have enough room in my 3' X 3' space to veg four plants long enough to at least sex them, so why limit myself? Man, with my mushrooms, fiddle-leaf fig clones, and Vortex seedlings all sharing space in the humi-dome, it's getting crowded in there!
The first three sprouted two days after I planted! I took them out of the dome today, and decided after noticing how fast those roots busted through the Rapid Rooters, that it was time to transplant to 1 gallon pots and start to harden them off. I did so this afternoon.
I made sure all my cables were stowed up top and out of the way, and fired up the lamp for a few minutes. My ballast takes both MH and HPS and has an adjustable output, which is nice, so I'm going to adjust down to a 250W setting for the first couple days and give a 30" light spacing, just while I harden them off and get that fourth seedling sprouted, planted and in the grow space with the rest.
I took out my base soil mix, which after not seeing it for a couple weeks, looks like a great mix! Nice and fluffy, and very well mixed. I put a half-a-teaspoon more of the root defender in each planting hole, dropped in the RR's, and then labeled and lightly watered each seedling. They'll be in there for the last few hours of today's light cycle, then start the veg light cycle "bright and early" tomorrow morning. I'll update more when I get that fourth one transplanted, and then I'll be officially on the way!!

It's only day one of the actual grow, and I've already hit a pretty serious road block. This morning when I got up, I went in to check my babies and immediately saw that there was no light leaking out of there. . . uh oh. I looked in and sure enough -- no light. The light cycle should have already been on for four hours! I checked the reflector and it wasn't even warm, so I don't think the lamp ever really cut on. After several minutes of checking timer settings and electrical connections and just trying different things, I finally got the ballast to work when plugged straight in to the outlet on the 400W setting. After the light came to full intensity, I disconnected and let it cool a little, and routed it back through the timer and turned it on. nothing.
I think my new ballast is defective for some reason.
I got it from a hydro store online, so exchanging it is out of the question. I also know that it carries a five year warranty, but God knows how long that would take to get through. It's still eligible for return, so tomorrow I'm going to take the ballast to a local hydro shop that I know carries them, and see if they can see anything wrong with it. If so, I'll just buy a new from them, although it's a little more expensive, and just return the defective one, as it's been just under 30 days. For now I have my old HydroFarm ballast/reflector hanging up and on the timer, covering my back.