First organic grow

[silver hawaiian]

Hello

This is the verrryyy beginning of a smallll grow. First in 10+ years. Prior experience was DWC. Have since become sold on the quality of organics..

The nitty gritty:

Tent: 32" x 32" x 63"

400 W HPS

2 3-gallon smartpots

The safety:

6" 20 lb carbon scrubber

400 CFM fan

The yummy:

1 AK-47
1 White Widow x Blueberry

and MAYBE
ONE (1) Mystery guy?

The dirt:

Roughly, as best a guy like me can measure:

3 parts FFOF
1 part ProMix HP
A handful of EWC per 3 gallon smartpot

..What you're seeing in the photos is the current veggie setup for a the outside veggies this year. Lots of hot chiles, some pepper, lettuce, tomatoes, herbs..

The tent will be seated nearby.

Things to shape up here in the next week. Will keep the few interested posted!

 

[silver hawaiian]

I think I left out some details

Will be feeding with EWC & indonesian guano tea. superthrive and maxicrop

 

[schwagg]

growing your own veggies is a great start. dont stop with the MJ, show me some good veggies too!

 

[silver hawaiian]

Small change in plans - no AK47, will be Warrior instead.. Which I believe is a Mango x Cali Indica, if I'm reckoning correctly..

 

[mad librettist]

more dirt!

 

[tr1ck_]

I am running (4) 5gallon air pots (trimmed down to 4.25 gallons) in the same size tent. SO if you are running only 2 plants, you should probably go bigger than 3 gallon if you want to grow them big enough to fill your tent. Also after reading a bunch about superthrive, I would skip it.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Thanks for the size input.. I'm not really motivated by production. It's as much for a hobby as anything.

I'm growing for just lonely ol' me, and in my old, boring age, I'd have to TRY to produce less than I can consume in 60 days.

So, the aim isn't volume, just quality. And fun!

Although, I have been chewing on the 5 gallon thing, because I can see myself on day 30, "Shit. Shoulda gone with the 5 gallons."

I'm going to go ponder that, with the aid of some Star Trek.

Stay tuned!

 

[tr1ck_]

Although, I have been chewing on the 5 gallon thing, because I can see myself on day 30, "Shit. Shoulda gone with the 5 gallons."

I did that once, I was running 2.5 gallon square pots and my two babies got rootbound in week 3 or 4 of flowering and never finished.

Now I like to give myself a buffer in case something stretches a bit more than I expect.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Tr1ck - that's all I had to hear. (That, and I looked at your setup, which looks KILLER) I'll be stopping by the store on the way home today, actually..

I may veg 'em longer too. Since it's just little ol' me, I'm not really concerned with producing monsters, ... Initially I was going to just drop some rooted clones (not much veg) into flower, but.. Your situation is quite inspiring - and it's a good reference point, since it's damn-near the same setup I'm putting together!

 

[tr1ck_]

If you get the chance to make a screen it will really make your training a lot easier. I think my screen cost me a whopping 10$ or less, and then it took about 1 hour of my time (it would have been faster if I wasn't so stoned and constantly tieing the strings too loose lol)

This is my first run with a screen and I will definitely continue using them. It allows you to get a really even canopy with very little actual time spent training compared to LST which I have always used in the passed.

I'm not sure if you actually live in Hawaii, but boy am I jealous if you do! My parents own a condo on Kauai and it is easily one of my favorite places in the world to visit (and I've been a lot of places) Unlimited lush beautiful flowers, waterfalls, and amazing beaches. I would love to move there someday, I just don't like the stigma of being a haole

 

[silver hawaiian]

Ha! Would love be able to tell you I live in Hawaii (at least with a straight face).

No, I'm in Michigan, where it was a BALMY 29 degrees this morning. Horseshit.

Tr1ck, how long did you veg your plants before you switched 'em? I'm really not in a situation where I have any desire (aside from the innate) to grow monster amounts of reefer.

BUT, of course, .. Who DOESN'T want to max it out?!

 

[Fire On High]

Hey good luck man. I'm switching over to organic in a week or two. Hopefully its as easy as the science suggests it will be.

 

[tr1ck_]

I vegged them for about 28 days after they were this size:

I topped each plant one about 10 days after that image, and then I topped a couple of them a 2nd time a week or so after that. If I didn't top them or have any sort of burn/deficiencies like I did when they were young and slow down their vegging, I probably would have had to flip them to 12/12 at about the end of the 3rd week.

A lot depends on the strain, try to find some people who have grown your strains, and see how fast they vegged, as well as how much they stretched.

No one ever seems to get quite as much as they expect, so aim a little bit higher and if you fall short you are still golden

 

[silver hawaiian]

I vegged them for about 28 days after they were this size:

No one ever seems to get quite as much as they expect, so aim a little bit higher and if you fall short you are still golden

The story of my life!

..Just ran out and picked up some 5 gallon smartpots instead - good idear.

The White Widow x Blueberry & Warrior clones were JUST cut, so I've got some time to kill while those root. I'm waiting to hear on my (?) mystery guy, so we'll see.

I'm hoping to throw the switch sometime before mid-April, but I'll be playing it by ear according to their veg-ness.

I've decided I think I ought to be proactive about bugs -- just need to decide which product to give a whirl..

 

[tr1ck_]

If you are going organic, neem oil seems to be the first thing everyone goes to. You might also want to do some reading on fermented plant extracts. A lot of people use lavender I think with good success. I believe I even read about people using some lavender castile soap by a brand called "dr bronners" and having success keeping bugs away.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Too funny - I used to wash my stink' dreadlocks with Dr. Bronners. (Then the frickin bottle of Peppermint soap busted in my luggage en route back from California about 10 years ago, .. Came home with a peppermint-scented wardrobe.

Tr1ck, question for you. It looks like we have the same tent. What size are the vents in yours? I could've sworn I read that there were 6" vents, but when I was home setting it up just now, I've got a hard time believing they're 6" - look more like 4"..

(Left the office to go home and set up the tent, like a kid on Christmas. Didn't have time to do much inspecting of the vent situation..)

 

[silver hawaiian]

Hut has been assembled..

Hut has been assembled..

..I'd post a picture or two if the computer weren't smarter than I..

(How did I manage to do this on Sunday night, in much worse shape?!)

 

[tr1ck_]

If you have the Secret Jardin DR80 like I do, the vents are actually 5 inches, which is a bit of a weird size. I ended up going with a 4inch fan, filter, hood, and ducting. I believe the new Secret Jardin Darkroom2's have the 6inch outlets.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Hmm. That's funny, because I originally ordered (mistakenly) a 4" 265 CFM fan. I returned it and ordered a 6", 400 CFM'er, since the vents on the reflector are 6", and I thought the tent had 6" vents.

DOH! Back to square one, but at least with more horsepower this time. I have a feeling I'm going to need to put a controller on that fan, dial it back a bit..

 

[tr1ck_]

Wow you are definitely going to need a fan controller with that beast

I have a S&P TD100x fan, which blows 135 cfm I believe, and I have it pulling through my carbon, then the hood, then the ducting makes a 180 turn, and goes through an exhaust silencer. So I imagine I would be lucky if its still pushing 100cfm after it goes through all those hoops. Even at 100cfm my temps do not get over 82-83 even a few inches under the hood. Most of the tent is in the 75-77 range.