Getting ready for 1st Vertical grow

[OG Tree Grower]

The buds are still developing pretty good ! Gotta like that.

It takes a real man to post up his mistakes and continue the grow journal, a lot of people bail and stop posting, at least we all can learn from it this way, props to you Gr.

 

[gr866]

Love it .

Looking threw the thread I couldn't see anything about the size of the tent , was wondering how big an area your working with?

May the gods be with you .

It's a 4x4x almost 7 feet, Gorrilla Lite. Inside is the plants and they take up about 3 sqft/one sq meter. There is a fan in the back corner and my rez. Next grow the rez comes out of the tent, hanging fan and giving the plants a bit more room. Think I have them too tight around the lamp, have some burn, nothing major.
GR

 

[gr866]

they look real good, esp considering...log what you're doing...adjust mistakes, and don't repeat next grow... you should see a significant improvement!

Thanks Mr M.
Thanks for the encouragement, the cost of the errors will be in final weight and am not sure how all this will effect the taste and stone level.
Yes I do write down my mixes and have the last few mixes have remained the same. Per gallon rates, I add 3 cups of tap to my RO which adjust the starting ppm from 3+/- to around 120, as recommended by the folks at Canna.

Cannazym 8 ml
Epsom 1 gram
Drip Clean 0.4 ml
Canna A 8 ml
Canna B 12 ml

I make a 3 gal of RO to 9 cups of tap and final ppm is 850 to 925, the pH flux's a bit but I am beginning adjusting the starting pH and want to get to 6.0 when I leave for my next trip.
Stopped adding SM-90 to the rez, thinking that running the rez cooler, 70 degree's, that the oils in the product coagulate and the smaller pieces get into the upper rez and the larger parts get stuck to the screen on the pump. I have been mixing a gallon with RO and tap, and pouring it over the top of the mix about once a week. This gives me 3 cups per plants. I like this method, ended up dumping a couple of rez's, around 25 gallons due to the SM 90 and it got into the Blumat lines and started plugging it up. Caught it before it became a problem.

Yeah, I agree, don't want to make the same mistake twice. Just bewildered that that N toxicity occurred at such a low rate of nutes. It could the using the rain water that came off the composite shingles of the roof. Going to move the rain barrels over to the shop roof, it's metal so using that water should not be a problem, as long as I mix some tap water with it. It is as pure as the RO water but the pH is lower at around 5.0, RO is 5.3 to 5.5.

Sorry for the rambling, have been doing comparisons of the pot's I picked up in CO on the last trip. This mornings variety is Purple Cotton, very pleasant.

GR

 

[gr866]

The buds are still developing pretty good ! Gotta like that.

It takes a real man to post up his mistakes and continue the grow journal, a lot of people bail and stop posting, at least we all can learn from it this way, props to you Gr.

Thanks OG,

Will not ramble like my post to Mr. M, LOL!
You know why I did not give up on the journal, I felt that I would get real helpful information on my problems and also help the next guy that wants to give this style of grow a shot.
I did get a lot of helpful advice and got some good laughs out of some of the advice, but never got an answer from someone who may have faced a similar problem. Maybe they just did not want to admit it.
As stated, I have gone through all my notes, rethunk what and how I did things, the rates, the timing of when it occurred, gone thru all my pics to see when the first signs began showing and tieing them to my notes. I found nothing that would raise a flag.
So my conclusion is, not adjusting the RO with tap, even when using GH nutes, using the rain water with the RO and some panic mode. I did not fully think things out before I began changing programs. I do know better, my yrs in the golf biz were successful do to developing a plan and staying out of panic mode.
Again thanks for the Prop's and advice,
GR

 

[kanzzzz]

It's a 4x4x almost 7 feet, Gorrilla Lite. Inside is the plants and they take up about 3 sqft/one sq meter. There is a fan in the back corner and my rez. Next grow the rez comes out of the tent, hanging fan and giving the plants a bit more room. Think I have them too tight around the lamp, have some burn, nothing major.
GR

Yeah thats the fun of working with a little space , trying to make it all work together .

Reminds me of my first setup kinda , so I can relate. Shame about the burn , would have thought with a 400 you would have got away with it.

Not going to try and tell my granny how to suck eggs as they say as you seam to know what your doing.

Hiowever if I was to offer advice incase someone else reading has a similar problem .
Either bigger outtake fan , add/bigger intake fan drawing air from outside or switch it so your lights come on at night time and there off dureing the day.
I find the last one helps alot in controling temps so it isnt to hot when lights on and dosnt get to cold when lights out.

All the best bud!

 

[gr866]

Yeah thats the fun of working with a little space , trying to make it all work together .

Reminds me of my first setup kinda , so I can relate. Shame about the burn , would have thought with a 400 you would have got away with it.

Not going to try and tell my granny how to suck eggs as they say as you seam to know what your doing.

Hiowever if I was to offer advice incase someone else reading has a similar problem .
Either bigger outtake fan , add/bigger intake fan drawing air from outside or switch it so your lights come on at night time and there off dureing the day.
I find the last one helps alot in controling temps so it isnt to hot when lights on and dosnt get to cold when lights out.

All the best bud!

The fans are fines, a 15" fan between the plants blowing up, a 12" in the corner blowing onto the plants and my 6" exhaust fan attached to the 6" filter. And yes, I do have lights on @ 9PM and off at 9AM.
The burn came from me allowing the branches to free fall into the lamp, should have tied them better.
Thanks for the well wishes,

GR

 

[kanzzzz]

The fans are fines, a 15" fan between the plants blowing up, a 12" in the corner blowing onto the plants and my 6" exhaust fan attached to the 6" filter. And yes, I do have lights on @ 9PM and off at 9AM.
The burn came from me allowing the branches to free fall into the lamp, should have tied them better.
Thanks for the well wishes,

GR

No worries buddy.

Yeah I hate when they fall into the light. Lost some big top nugs that way, ive also ended up with white bud as well from it , not so much burn but bleached
Makes sense as a 6 inch outtake for a 400w should be more than enough.

 

[gr866]

Day 57 12/12
Looks like 7 to 14 days, strain dependent.

Just returned from a 6 day trip and the plants did well, no run aways, no buds in the lamp, only thing was my lower rez ran out of liquid but the upper rez still had two to three more days in it. I think I found the answer to my drifting pH, I removed the air stones from the upper rez and the pH dropped only about 1.5 points, starting pH last Thursday was 6.1 and upon return it was 5.94. Last trip the pH started at 6.2 and went to 5.4 in the 6 days I was gone. No more air stones.

Plants are doing ok considering all the shit I put them through. It looks like I will be harvesting in a week or two. Trichs are mostly clear, only funky on the BC1 that went bonkers on me during the grow, it has clear trichs on the lower part of the plant while the upper looks extremely weird. They are totally foxtailing!

Just in auto mode for the next week or so, not much I can do from here on out but sharpen my manicure scissors.
They are what they are!


More pics next post

 

[gr866]

GR

There are a few more pics in my album!

 

[OG Tree Grower]

Looks like you may have been right with the nitrogen toxicity diagnosis , that's most likely why you got that foxtail going on too, if you plan on cutting them soon I would do a flush and go to straight water for the 2 weeks at least, there still really green and loaded with nitrogen, you don't wanna be smoking that crap.

Other than that it looks great man! Good work and problem solving skills! Next ones gonna be killer!

 

[gr866]

Looks like you may have been right with the nitrogen toxicity diagnosis , that's most likely why you got that foxtail going on too, if you plan on cutting them soon I would do a flush and go to straight water for the 2 weeks at least, there still really green and loaded with nitrogen, you don't wanna be smoking that crap.

Other than that it looks great man! Good work and problem solving skills! Next ones gonna be killer!

Thanks OG,

Yep, your right, I have just about two weeks left and I have begun the flush. When I got back home from NM, there was little in the lower rez, pump was picking up nothing. The ppm was around 800 and the pH was 5.9, I was very pleased to see those numbers as I had be having some pH drift. I made up 7 gallons of RO + my tap and only added Drip Clean, 124 ppm them pH to 6. Final numbers were 6.1 pH and 375 ppm. Tomorrow will drain both rez's clean and refill with RO and Drip Clean only, pH and that will be it till harvest. will be manually flushing tomorrow with RO and DC.
I removed some of the big shiny fans and will remove more tomorrow when I pull the ladies out of the tent. Lol, the fragrance is devine, I opened the tent for the first time at around 11 pm when we got back from our trip, it had been closed up for 6 days without me fucking with them, LOL. When I pulled back the front flap it was no more than 15 seconds and my GF in the back bedroom said, damn I can smell that in here. That is a good sign!

Thanks for the encouraging words, I am going to doing a straight Barney's Farm Critical Kush run this next grow. When I purchased my seeds from Seedsman.com they got the order mixed up. I ordered 5 CK and 5 Big Buddha Blue Cheese and they sent me 5 White Widow and the BC. Hell I had 25 WW's that I had either purchased, gotten as freebies or had someone give them to me. They did me right, when I reordered the 5 CK's the sent an additional 5 CK's + two other fem seeds of different strains.

The friend we went to visit in NM was about to chop this plant, he did it after we left. It is a Critical Kush seed that I had sent him, when I received my last shipment. It had very little fragrance, nice looking plant, and looks like he will get a number of Z's out of it, I know he will send me some for testing.

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The buds were kind of loose, not tight. That plant hit the ground in mid June, I think he could go another couple of weeks but he is an early harvester, he will do his WW's, his every year grow, at 48 to 52 days. He likes the real uppy high he gets from it. Not much I can say, he has been growing his own stash since 1978 in that same location. I am a novice compared to him. He admits he is just lazy, put it in the pot of who know potting mix, cheaper the better, water it with Miracle Grow, harvest it early, just dry it put it in a baggy and into the freezer. No curing at all. Oh well.

Later,

GR

 

[gr866]

Day 63 12/12

Harvested Blue Cheese 1, the mutant!

I cut the upper third of the plant a couple of weeks ago and it went into the compost pile.

What a plant, the upper 2/3rds that was effected by whatever the fuck happened, and the lower third was effected but not all that much compared to the upper.

The middle of the plant was damn easy to trim, the lower a little more work involved.

BC#1
Full 2/3 rds of the plant, don't it make your heart hurt a bit seeing the poor baby.


The middle third of the plant, the mutant as it has been termed.


The lower third of the plant, this portion of the plant was not as effected and the upper portion, and this part of the plant was established when the top of the plant began it's problem. It is like the plant was effected at the third week of 12/12 and the lower portion (older growth) was hardly effected.


The Root ball, I do not think that the roots were the problem I was only able to wash off about a cup of coco from this root mass.


After trim wet weight, 300 g's. Not sure what the will equate to in dry weight, I have read you get about 20 t0 30% dry weight to wet weight. Don't really make no difference, it is what it is. Just hope as a mutant plant it gives me mutant high like good ol' Sgt. Stedanko, I want a little lizard in me,

GR

 

[DunHav`nFun]

Rule of thumb`s always been pot`s 80% water , so get ready for lil over 2 ozs. after a good dry and cure to 62%RH before final jarring....

I call 60 gms +/- from 300 soaking wet....My estimate from all them yrs....

Good job by the way...

Peace....DHF........

 

[gr866]

Rule of thumb`s always been pot`s 80% water , so get ready for lil over 2 ozs. after a good dry and cure to 62%RH before final jarring....

I call 60 gms +/- from 300 soaking wet....My estimate from all them yrs....

Good job by the way...

Peace....DHF........

Thanks DHF,
That was such a stressful plant, still don't know what caused the problem. I know the other 4 will be better.
Yea, those are the numbers I get at 20% dry weight, that will be more than I expected from the mutant.

You talking 62%, you must use Boveda also. I just ordered there new 58% packs, going to test them to the 62's I have.

GR

 

[DunHav`nFun]

Us old heads were the forerunners of 62% final storage RH loooooong before anyone ever heard of the boveda thingies , but it`s the same principle from the same cigar/humidor industry.....and yeah....

62% is top end of the scale since mold and mildews can form on product any higher in percentage , but the lower % discs are said to help give better flavor and smell in the end but I have no experience with em ....and....

After bovedas , it`s so simple to keep product at optimum storage , but remember the 3 enemies of pot.....

Heat , light , and air.......

Always kept my headies in the deep freeze in suspended animation once dried and cured properly.....anyways...

Good luck with the rest bro....

Peace....DHF.........

 

[gr866]

Hey DHF,
I have been using Bovada's for a number of years now, prior to these I used a HumiStic , I think it was called or something like that, they were popular in Nor Cal when I lived there.
This past July I was digging through my stash jars and found a 1/2 pint jar with a nice size bud of TGA's Querkle that had been vacuumed sealed with a Boveda inside that was dated 11/12/13. Well my GF and I celebrated an anniversary that July and I popped that jar open, first noted the fragrance, it was very nice and sweet, then the feel which was very pliable not dry or wet feeling at all. It rolled very well and the taste was a touch harsh, but think it was that way going into the jars. It smoked good and clean, white ash and the buz was as good as I remember it to be.


I have been keeping the sealed mason jars in a sealed box at the back of a closet that faces SE, never any sunlight and in air conditioning. You say you keep yours in the freezer, are they in jars. Got a friend that does this and his buds are usually too dry Would be curious as to your thoughts on this.

GR

Want to add one more pic, using the vacuum sealer.

 

[DunHav`nFun]

Vacuum sealed jars is the only wayta roll for long term storage to stop 1 of those main enemies I listed above....air....now...

If vacuum sealed at the proper humidity level when jarred , the only way it can possibly come out the freezer is exactly the way it went in.....

Storing dope in ambient temps even sealed in the dark in basement condition , chlorophyll degradation still occurs , and the colors change and get darker/browner , affects taste and smell as well....

Frozen keeps the shit in suspended animation and comes out the same as when it was put in guaranteed.....Like you , few yrs back I found a QP in a gal jug of forgotten about Chem D in my freezer up at the barn where I keep some meat but mostly cattle and pig vaccinations plus worm meds......anyways....

It had to have been minimum 5 yrs old bro , and as good as I remember when I was croppin the bitch....anyways....I`d never steer yas wrong bro , and vacuum sealed beforehand surely can`t hurt....regardless....

Good luck....DHF........

 

[gr866]

While visiting my bud in NM earlier this month he gave me over 3/4 pound of WW and Afghan, he had them in plastic bags in the freezer, said he did not like them, so I am going to make either oil or Cannabutter out of them.
Again in plastic bags they were crispy dry.

GR

 

[gr866]

Ok, I have a question!
When running vert. each screen is 4.99995 sq ft, so can I assume, using 400W, that each of the 5 screens are receiving 80W, 400W / (40"x18") = 80W/foot. Plants are approx. 1 foot from the light.

So far I am really liking vert., even with the problem I have faced, I do no think they were related to vertical growing or using coco.

 

[OG Tree Grower]

I don't understand the question ? Lol

When you keep weed in the freezer and it's vaccume sealed its important to let it go to room temp before opening the jar, that's key to keeping the moisture in.