First Closet Grow

[KIEFFER]

I am sure I have a lot to learn about my new hobby of growing. So i figured the the best way to learn was to show my process and get critiqued by those that know. I have spent some time reading all over these forums and sorry I have hijacked a bit……. but only to learn and fix problems i have had.
So here is my project. I am a bit limited with space in the flowering room 12/12 it is 3’x5’ with a rack looks similar to bleacher type tray set up length wise. I have two rooms divide out inside of a closet. The first room that the racks are in is the 12/12 600w HPS. The 2nd is the veg room where the Moms and all the babies get their roots. I have 2 fans on the top of the door way which are recycled computer 12v fans. The one on the left feeds fresh air into the flowering room the one on the left has dryer hose connected on the backside of the fan. This dryer hose runs to he back room where the babies are my veg room. The fan sucks the hot air from the top of my veg room removing it out through the flowering room inside the dryer hose not impacting the temp in the flowering room. I built an air intake box that sits on top of the veg section (it looks rough but it works). I made the veg room (18/6) with 2 grow florescence (Sun Blaster) that are directly on top of 2 of the hanging shelves. Also 3 duel florescent ballast hanging in 3 corners of the room pointing to the center. Which seems to do well. I needed to light proof to the veg room from the flowering room and I needed to get fresh air into the back without letting light out. So I built the air intake box that has another computer fan on the top blowing fresh air in through light proof dryer hose enclosed in a box that has a dryer hose that runs through it and into the opposite top coroner of the veg room. Where an interior fan then circulates cool fresh air through the veg room. The back room is built from plastic covered wire shelves cut into about 4 x 2 sections hanging at the 4 corners by 4-drop chains in each corner. I have 5 shelves hanging. The bottom is currently holding my moms. They will be getting their own home here if a few days.

So the strain I am growing is a mystery to me. A friend donated it to me when I began. I am using FFLW soil with the FF liquid nutes with Kool Bloom for flowering. I have already gone through some “growing pains” during the process but until I found this site I have pretty much been solo.

I have already finished 1 cycle that gave me 7 plants and the 2nd set are currently in the 5 week of flowering and the 3rd set are in the 1st. I plan to cut more in about 4 days to start my 4th. I will try and get you all caught up through the picks. Please also keep in mind that I am very “green” and I have had my ups and downs in the learning process with over feeding but I am hoping that I can get it right with the 3rd set. I am sure you will be able to pick it out. I do welcome any feedback to help me improve.

Main entrance.



1st room “flowering room”






2nd room “veg room”



1st set hanging.






A 2nd set bud about a week and a half ago


One of the first set


A bit closer


I tried to use Emerald triangle Gravity. As you can all see i failed in that. If any one have info or advise on how to not get this result with it PLEASE let me know. That shit is not cheap and i have heard good things on it but nothing good for me. The buds are hanging now and we will see how they smoke.




Some of the first set and 2nd set about a week and a half ago


!st set getting ready to cut


2nd set bottm rack 3rd top rack






Full Flowering room


These are the fist set











Thanks for reading and I will keep updates coming. I can't stress enough that I am new at this.

 

[SmokeMan]

Well first off .. You seem to have a pretty good green thumb for claiming to be a newb But hey I think your off to a great start!

What are those really short looking plants you are growing? They are extremely short?
Btw those buds do look great!! Why do you think the Emerald triangle Gravity is not doing good for you?The buds look nice and fat and you still got alot of white pistils, that just means the bud is still expanding. Thats only a good thing for a patient man.

Keep up the good work growing and dont worry about asking questions . We all love to help. Well I can only speak for myself , But there is alot of good folks around here.

 

[gladysvjubb]

Just continue to do what it is you are doing!
Garden and product look professional.
Keep growing!

 

[Mischief2JZ]

yea you say you're a newb, well shit, you're learning really fast! awesome looking buds man, they look so tasty!

Im a newb myself and my first harvest almost looked like your first set of close ups of your buds. keep up the good work!

 

[KIEFFER]

Well first off .. You seem to have a pretty good green thumb for claiming to be a newb But hey I think your off to a great start!

What are those really short looking plants you are growing? They are extremely short?
Btw those buds do look great!! Why do you think the Emerald triangle Gravity is not doing good for you?The buds look nice and fat and you still got alot of white pistils, that just means the bud is still expanding. Thats only a good thing for a patient man.

Keep up the good work growing and dont worry about asking questions . We all love to help. Well I can only speak for myself , But there is alot of good folks around here.

Thank you for the positive feedback. I can assure you this is my first grow. I Have 2 friends that has severl grows under thier belt that I have Pinged off of for info from time to time. They short plants I think you are talking about are the ones that are on the top row. They are another set from the same mother.
The gravity just had a big impact on the apperance of the plants. I have done research on it and i dont think that i flushed them well enough for one and I also was control of my feeding sched and i think those were over nute'ed to begin with. I will be using it on 3 more from the current set to give it another shot.

BTW Tonight i hired some cheap labor in the form of 1500 lady bugs. I have a small spider mite problem so i am letting them start work tonight

You said
"The buds look nice and fat and you still got alot of white pistils, that just means the bud is still expanding. Thats only a good thing for a patient man."
Still expanding? did I harvest too early?

Thank you and i am sure i will have a lot more ? to come

 

[KIEFFER]

Thanks gladysvjubb. I have been bitten by the grow bug and i am sure i will have many grows as time goes on.
I keep seeing Molasses being used widely and never hear anything bad about it. What are its Benefits? I want to get the most out of my harvest and this sounds like it help. How is it used when and how much?

Just continue to do what it is you are doing!
Garden and product look professional.
Keep growing!

 

[KIEFFER]

yea you say you're a newb, well shit, you're learning really fast! awesome looking buds man, they look so tasty!

Im a newb myself and my first harvest almost looked like your first set of close ups of your buds. keep up the good work!

My first set started out with 15 i ended up with 8 almost 50% which i was ok with but was very hurt when some didnt make it and i know it was due to my lack of experience and i spent hours on this site just reading and asking questions to makesure that i broke my bad habbits. Did you get any pics of yours. Its the Newbies like us that can get valuable advise from the "pros" here on ICM and keep the "pipe smoking"

Keep livin the dream.

 

[Rob547]

Im not quite sure I understand your basic setup....not that its that important...
is it like a walk-in closet that is divided by some poly or something?? I ask because I'm moving soon and may have to divide a big closet.

Looks like you know what your doin, lots of frosty nugs.

http://www.planetganja.com/highsociety/archive/index.php/t-9427.html heres a link for molasses. I usually use it @ around 1 tbsp per gallon, although I've never really been to sure when to START using it. People use it up to the very end of the grow, up until the flush or so.

GL!

 

[KIEFFER]

Im not quite sure I understand your basic setup....not that its that important...
is it like a walk-in closet that is divided by some poly or something?? I ask because I'm moving soon and may have to divide a big closet.

Looks like you know what your doin, lots of frosty nugs.

http://www.planetganja.com/highsociety/archive/index.php/t-9427.html heres a link for molasses. I usually use it @ around 1 tbsp per gallon, although I've never really been to sure when to START using it. People use it up to the very end of the grow, up until the flush or so.

GL!

Rob,
yes it is just that a walk in closet that is 6 feet deep with the far back that has a section that that is pollyed out 2.5 feet that has free hanging shelves hung by chains that allows me to have 5 shelves that i use to veg and hold my mom's. It was tricky to get fresh air back there that is what the intake box is for. That sits directly on top of my veg room looks bad but works just fine. when i made the polly divider to the veg room i wanted it with 2 doors to ensure that it was light tight. the 1st door is a polly sheet cut in the middle from the top to the floor then the 2nd is just a flap that fold over the 1st door. i weighted the flap on the bottom to keep it flush to the floor.

Thanks for the heads up on the Grandmas. I will be looking into that as well as more useage instructions i can drum up.....

 

[KIEFFER]

Up to date Pics

Up to date Pics

Hello all. I did some work tonight in my room and i found it way to hard to not snap a few pics. Here are some before and now shots

I think i am going to the store tomorrow and getting that Grandmas.

BTW Lady bugs are a pain in the ass to keep on the plants. I let out about 75 or so ad spent 40 min picking them up and placing them back on the plants. I just left them alone I figure they know what they need to do




This one is now the one below it






Before


Here they are today 3 days shy of 1 week in flowering




2 Moms that were put into 3 gallon pots tonight. This is before the transplant

 

[SmokeMan]

You said
"The buds look nice and fat and you still got alot of white pistils, that just means the bud is still expanding. Thats only a good thing for a patient man."
Still expanding? did I harvest too early?

Thank you and i am sure i will have a lot more ? to come

If you harvested with all white hairs then you did harvest too early. Its best to at least wait till at least 50% of the hairs have turned color. No harm tho bro . Your new to growing and the 1st grow is now behind you so now just remember to try and wait till most of the hairs have turned or use a scope to see the trichomes and wait for amber to appear.

p.s. When the lady bugs get hungry they will find food . Spider mites are what is for dinner

 

[KIEFFER]

oh no i dont think I did.These are the ones i have curing now. Do they look early? If you can tell from that pic at all.



BTW The lady bugs are eating away. I found out that it much easier to work with them right out of the fridge before they wake up.

But you are right my friend !st one down. 2nd 3 weeks till completion. And a 3rd that is one week into flowering and i will be cloning about 15 more in 2 days. I have not fed the Moms N for a week so they should be ready to go.

Smoke Thank you for the help

 

[SmokeMan]

naww bro they look fine. You can harvest some strains early and still have some decent smoke. Wish you knew the strain name. That always helps to know for you and for me as a viewer or buyer ,whatever the case may be. Regardless from your pics it looks like you got some frosty smoke so it should be good from the looks. Have you had a tester sample yet?

Let us know how she smokes for you bro. As matter of a fact. Smoke some for me

 

[KIEFFER]

naww bro they look fine. You can harvest some strains early and still have some decent smoke. Wish you knew the strain name. That always helps to know for you and for me as a viewer or buyer ,whatever the case may be. Regardless from your pics it looks like you got some frosty smoke so it should be good from the looks. Have you had a tester sample yet?

Let us know how she smokes for you bro. As matter of a fact. Smoke some for me

I wish I did know the strain. When the opportunity to grow came by me. My buddy knew a guy that owed him a favor and it ended up being a 2yr old mother that he had and was given to me. I have asked my buddy if he could find out but I think he is trying to remove himself. I have had comments by my pics that it looks like white widow. But i am not sure if i buy it, but who knows. I am still gaining knowledge as a grower and not just a "smoker". My friend tells me that he thinks it is more Indica then sativa. But then again I am not well versed. Any opinion?

Funny you should ask. I was getting ready to do some work on my plants last night and said to myself......... "self you have waited long enough" I took a small tester bud and the smoke was very nice. Very smooth and tasteful. It was a better then i expected i guess. One thing that I found was that when it burned it left grey ash and not black and from the reading I have done that’s the goal. Again not too well versed.

Bro I gotta say thanks for the insight and I will be updating this regularly I hope you keep an eye on me. I still have a lot to learn and can use all the resources available to me


They are hard at work

 

[busterbunny]

Very nice job, some good looking plants you have there, expecially for a first grow!

 

[KIEFFER]

Hey there Buster...Thanks for stopping by ... I am lovin every minute of it my friend. It is a constant learning process and being a rookie I find I am always trying to correct a problem of some sort. So far I have had recovered from all bad feeding habits and managing soil PH problems. But if its not 1 thing its another . I am having a big of a problem with my main mother right now. I have a thread going in the Infirmary and in this forum in hopes the Plant Dr's and Grow Pro's can help me fix yet another.

 

[KIEFFER]

Well I had a interesting experience with an emergency transpant. I made it easy by just copying and pasting the post from the Infirmary. I will post that first then a progress update.

=====================================================



Hope I did it right guys.

We all remember what she looked like before.



The only part of the process that I got conflicting data from here and the infirmary was to clone her during the transplant. I made the executive decision to take the clones. If she isn’t going to make it then I have 10 other opportunities to keep my “mystery strain in my possession. So I took these instructions and ran with them.

Looks like you have a couple backup clone mothers in case of emergency so this isn't totally necessary but is good experience. First, pull some clones and then prune the plant way back (8-12" tall) Once the plant is out of the pot, cut all dead plant mater and roots away leaving a large grapefruit sized root ball hanging from the still viable stem, transplant and water w/hygrozyme. I suggest hygrozyme because not only does it help the plant more effectively uptake nutes but it also breaks down dead roots... It's good to see what this amazing plant of ours can really do

albert

1. Clone (the ones in the round peet cups are from her and the square ones ore from the other 2 Moms)



2. Remove dead matter and reduce roots to grape fruit size taking from the bad side


3. Repot into larger pot. The 2 other are my other moms and they are getting new pots in a day or 2





All I can do is wait. I am assuming if she is going to go downhill she will do it fast. If anything this was a great learning experience (even more so if it works). Like ya said Albert said I hope she amazes me.
======================================================

So as you can see from above now have 22 more little ones. Making 3 set in grow.
These would be set 3


Now the 1st set are going well I believe 17 in total. They are late in flowering so I assume that the yellowing is expected. I am still sticking with feeding once a week with FF Tigar Bloom, FF Big Bloom and Kool Bloom.





Now for set 2....... 20 in total. They are getting bigger and starting to form buds. Sorry the pic is a bit blurry.





I had a lot go on in the past 2 days so I wanted to get it all up here. see everyone soon

 

[Maj.PotHead]

nice setup heres a suggestion for your doorway instead of the polly



now if i change my airintake from the 4inch 90 degree angle black pvc fittings off and this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...104&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation so i can close door with out removing the plywood lol.
i had the peice cut to excat messurements of the inside of door jam where door closes on. the 2 handels allow for very easy removal and replacement. i can hold a peice of paper infront of the air intake and let it go it gets sucked into the closet. i used 19/32 thick plywood the store i bought at makes 2 cuts free. all i needed was 2 cuts he he so it was cut for free and i brought the excess scrap section home. total cost approx 15$ for the wood 2$ ea for handels and 3$ ea for the black fittings for air intake.

 

[KIEFFER]

nice setup heres a suggestion for your doorway instead of the polly



now if i change my airintake from the 4inch 90 degree angle black pvc fittings off and this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...104&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation so i can close door with out removing the plywood lol.
i had the peice cut to excat messurements of the inside of door jam where door closes on. the 2 handels allow for very easy removal and replacement. i can hold a peice of paper infront of the air intake and let it go it gets sucked into the closet. i used 19/32 thick plywood the store i bought at makes 2 cuts free. all i needed was 2 cuts he he so it was cut for free and i brought the excess scrap section home. total cost approx 15$ for the wood 2$ ea for handels and 3$ ea for the black fittings for air intake.

Thats a pretty smooth ass door. I never thought of that type of set up. It would work perfect for my grow. The polly is a fast easy 1st set up maybe now its time to evolve. I have to come up with a better solution to the back rooms door. Thats a bit tougher, back there I have no jam to fit into and its so much tougher due to the light and it escaping into the flower room.

Man you got me thinking and maybe at the lumber store in a few days. I kicked aound the idea of extending it out the door way for more room but with your idea its so much more stealth. Thanks I am going to pop around your grows my friend mybe get some more helpful hints.

 

[kovenant]

great beginning grows! the setup continues to evolve, that's for sure.

i saw you asked a question about molasses. i use it myself, let me tell you my own personal what, why, and when.

first, i recommend using any brand molasses - however, make sure of two things: you want blackstrap molasses, and you want it unsulfured. both of these attributes are attributed from the way the molasses is refined... and the unsulfured blackstrap is the best of growing MJ. i use plantation.








i use it for several reasons, and throughout my grow. the 1st reason is to help feed and grow a healthy micro heard. that's all the beneficial organisms in your soil. molasses will explode their colonies and they will work well for you in return - they help break down nutes, so they transport to the plants better... they also fight off bad organisms and fungi. 2; it supplies important minerals to your girls - namely Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium (as well as carbs/sugars.) alot of MJ products contain molasses as their main ingredients - including ones for use during mid- to late-flower... brings me to 3; i begin my flush with RO Water + Molasses. this way i begin weening the girls off the nutes but continuing to supply them with some important minerals (and dont forget the carbs... great for packing weight on the buds). it also contributes to 'sweetening' up your buds. advanced nutrients makes a product called Sweet Leaf. it's main ingredient is molasses... along with some other really good stuff that isnt in molasses (but i still choose to use it over Sweet Leaf.)

as you can see, i use it throughout my grow. i give a couple applications during veg (to help build the micro heard) and i usually use between 2 tsp - 1 tbsp per gallon. i use it again starting early budding (around week 2 or 3) and add it to my nute mix once a week - same dose. finally i begin flushing about 1 1/2 weeks before i plan to harvest... the first watering during flush i water with only RO water and Molasses - and i blast it with 1 - 2 tbsp per gallon. if the plants are burning through the water - i'll water same dose again (e.g. if you are watering every other day, or even every 3 days... i would flush with molasses twice.) then for my last week i flush with RO water and Final Phase. usually my last flush i give with only RO water.

hope that helped with your question. guess i ran on alittle

happy growing!