Help the rookie pay the bills 'eh

[Leroy Brown]

Hey guys, thanks for all the wonderful advice, lessons, and knowledge sharing so far. I figured it's about time I start a thread, and would appreciate any feedback good or bad.

I'm an outdoor grower who just had to go in for the winter, and I probably jumped in with both feet a bit to soon, but it is what it is & at least I'm learning..... A LOT!!

Something I realized the other day when I started planning the next outdoor season is that (& this applies to both in & out) the more experience you have the better you can plan for a grow. Right now, if I had to setup another similar sized grow I'd do things a bit differently and analyze some aspects I didn't think of.

So here's where I'm at, I screwed my girls up a few weeks back but they are back & doing great, so learned some lessons there. Growing from seed SUCKS, I'm 7+ weeks from germ & I think I still need to wait a bit to flower.

Also, basements are cold, to cold up here during the coldest year in years I built a 6x12 (1.8m x 3.6m) room lined w/ panda, wired 3 gfci 20 amp circuits, plumbed in my ventilation, and THEN realized this, hahaha

Here's a quick rundown, and what I have for areas & lighting etc:

* Promix, KISS method (GH Maxibloom), 65ppm tap(@ .5 cf), ph/ec meters & all that jazz

* 45 plants in 1/2 gallon (2L) bags, that's after ditching 6 males from preflowers. They are under a 1K MH in an area roughly 4.5x4.5 (1.4m x 1.4m), 7-weeks from germ, topped all of them once (In hindsight maybe not the best idea on all of them)

* Flower areas- Since I had to ditch the basement I have at my disposal, the following-
4.5' x 4.5' (1.4m x 1.4m) area (Plus room to work) where I am currently vegging, 1K MH, will keep the taller plants there.

3.5' x 4.5' (1m x 1.4m) (Just door access) closet area where I was going to put 1 of my 3 600's

7' x 3.5' area (2.8m 1.4m) (Plus room to work) Where I was going to put the other 2 600's

All of these closets etc. are located in the master bedroom which will be kept at around 65* (18.4 c)and I have a carbon scrubber located in there that also circulates the air through the house based on it's position. Each closet/bathroom has a fan to circulate & helps get air in & out of the master bedroom, so far temp control is FLAWLESS in the room with the 1K doing this, it gives me two controls over temp- how much I crack the closet/bathroom door, and what I set the t-stat in the main room at. I've also got a 15pint dehumidy I can put in the main room if I need it.

My biggest concern is (Asides from having herms ) Am I going to be able to use all of those 2,800 watt's and square footage? Electrically I'm good, short 12/gauge cords from the other bedrooms & baths & nothing over 75% capacity.

I have time for this crop & one more crop from clones, 4 months being on the safe side.

The plan is to veg for another week max, take 2 clones from each plant (I also have 200 watt's of t8's & can get more) for the next run- label everything, then transplant all into the 3gallon (11.4L) bags & into the respective flower area's, I realize this is alot of extra bags & soil to fill for males but oh well, I don't feel comfortable running them longer in the 1/2 g's (2L) or transplanting mid flower. I'll probably spot a few more preflowers when I water & neem them soon though.

Sorry for the bad pics (And long winded post!), I'll get some good ones soon, there is definitely some keepers in this room I can already tell, fan leaves are already crystalling up Everything is a mix but it's all from good genetics, the majority of them came from a Mandala speed queen that got pollinated this summer with all my freebie seeds.

On a side note, I am not a fan of the growbags (Except for the price! Which ROCKS!) mainly because I like being able to pop a plant out & look at the roots once in awhile. Anyone else ever made the mistake of popping a plant out of a growbag to look at the roots? Lol.

 

[Shady Smoka]

Wow man, kick ass setup ya got there. I'll be watching this one

 

[hazy]

Sounds like a good set up. I like the simplicity of maxibloom too. I was using gh flora micro and bloom, but switched back to maxibloom and my diesel buds are rocking the house. Every now and then I toss in a teaspoon of some flora bloom that i still have and they love the extra P and K from that. I thought of doing that when I ran out of liquid koolbllom. Not missing the KB now either.

It's good to see you got all your problems worked out, the plants look great.
I totally agree with the potting up to the 3 gal bags while you still have enough veg time to fill the pot with roots before you flip.

edit- I had to go back to your thread in the infirmary to see what kind of medium you are using. Thought with the maxi you were using coco, but i see it's promix.

 

[Leroy Brown]

Well I turned off the room with the single 600 and condensed it's plants into the 2 other rooms, I didn't have the room to fill it up.


Temps are staying perfect, around 76* day , 65* night.

The carbon scrubber is working, but I need to get a better one, that fucking thing is ghetto as all hell & I don't trust it, don't ask. Don't ask about the dangling fan either, I am embarrassed by that, however it works absolutely TIT!

Can someone tell me WHAT THE FUCK WAS I THINKING with the rubbermaid tubs? I got lazy & didn't feel like filling up all my 3gallon growbags I guess? The tubs have some up side's though, just hope I don't fuck up & have to flush, though it will keep me in shape for the upcoming outdoor season I guess.

I HATE INDOORS! It bugs me out, costs so much money. But like the rubbermaid tubs it does have it's upsides.


For the latest & final transplant I took 2 bales of BX & 1 bale of HP, and mixed in 2 bags of Espoma Bio-Tone, that's another move I'm not sure was the smartest but things seem to be going good. It works out to .4 lb's per cubic foot (1 cup/7 gallons), it called for an application rate of .75 lb's per cubic foot (2.25 cups/7gallons). I've got some Maxibloom & Jacks blossom booster if they get hungry.

A few crying for calcium, most doing the claw from to much N, but otherwise I am super happy again.

These pics are 11 days from transplanting from 1/2 gallons into the tubs AND flipping the lights at the same time. I gave them 24 hr's darkness before the t-plant & flip also, they didn't like that (Yellowed from cold temps) but I think it was the move, I just wish I had gave them 12hr's of dark, t-planted, then gave them another 12 hr's dark- instead of 24hr's of dark then t-planting during lights on.

I'm making sure my clone area is dialed in, I should be taking 2 clones from each of the 33 girls shortly. I have time for 1 more cycle then it's back outdoors !!

THIS light isn't crooked, just a weird angle on the pic.

Yes, 1 light is intentionally crooked, it illuminates the uneven canopy way better.

Lowryders

Another Lowryder

This plant is very unique compared to the rest (Asides from the 2 sativa's on the left side of the MH room). She is very indica & some sections of leaves are double serrated.

This girl on the far right is slowly becoming a monster.

This plant has the most crystals in veg, the larger specs are just peat, no pest, they're crystals

One of only two showing sativa leaves, the other one is much bigger & even more sativa like but there's no good pics of her, she's middle/back left of the MH room.

 

[Leroy Brown]

I know I shouldn't be counting my chickens before I get baked & fry the eggs, but you think I'm on track to hitting .4 gram/watt? That would be about 1/oz per plant, or 2 lb's total. More? Less?

Plants are 20-24" tall, topped once, 12-14" from 600's, 16-20" from 1K. Vegged for 2-months.

 

[guest121295]

Leroy, I think you're looking pretty damn good from my perspective, just do what you're doing and don't worry about any grams/watt, you'll be fine.Just remove that copper wire from that plant and use some cotton or something before it becomes embedded in the stem.I make this error myself on a regular basis so, no worries, I've really strangled some plants in my day...I love those skinny hoods from Sun System, my all time fav for horizontal lamps.You'll pay the bills my friend, no sweat.

 

[Marshall]

looks like you dont need much help at all really. Plants look good. I think you will easily hit your goal there

Its funny you say growing inside freaks you out. To me outside freaks me out, never know whos watching, whos been to your plot, etc

 

[Leroy Brown]

^ Thanks, I've been freaking out for weeks now but my buddy who is letting me borrow the 1K keeps telling me the same thing- that I'll be fine & indoors is way better.

Leroy, I think you're looking pretty damn good from my perspective, just do what you're doing and don't worry about any grams/watt, you'll be fine.Just remove that copper wire from that plant and use some cotton or something before it becomes embedded in the stem.I make this error myself on a regular basis so, no worries, I've really strangled some plants in my day...I love those skinny hoods from Sun System, my all time fav for horizontal lamps.You'll pay the bills my friend, no sweat.

hahahahaha. I did that right after I snapped that pic!

Thanks for the compliments, means a lot, I've been glancing your posts in the mass/con/ri thread for awhile now.

Interesting on the skinny hood, I have another one not shown in any pics because it's lighting my garage. It is much larger, the reflector is much different- dimpled everywhere. I feel that one wouldn't be good in here because it seems better at illuminating large area's where as the skinny one was more focused when it was also hanging in the garage.

I guess my main worry is having a hermie & not spotting it, it's hard to access the back plants. I can picture snapping some cola's also once they get heavy, I'll just have to be careful there.

Thankfully my tapwater is a growers dream! It has been ranging from 6.0 - 6.2 lately, 70ppm, I couldn't ask for better water. I water with a hose from a sink, feeds will be a little more tricky, hopefully soon I can afford a sump pump & make myself a little wand. They've been drinking a lot lately

Regarding the 20 gallon tubs- my main reason asides from it being easier to fill with dirt than the grow bags, is that towards the end in the 1/2g bags they were drinking at much different rates & it was becoming a nightmare (Someone on here warned me of that, rep to them). The large tubs should help with that to an extent, plus I gained a lot of root space for the girls by digging out the males.

 

[Leroy Brown]

Well it's back to 2,800 watts

Temps are doing great, Humidity is in check, & airflow couldn't be better.

My water/feed regimen could be better though, I think I've been underwatering & underfeeding them. They were looking great , but now I'm seeing some calcium def. I didn't feed for the first 3-weeks of flower, nothing but 70ppm tapwater, not ph adjusted & I now don't trust my PH meter. It's telling me my tap is 6.2, contrary to common sense & what a dropper test says (of 7.2). Weird it reads the calibration fluids properly @ 4 & 7 though???????

So I didn't feed them anything for 3 weeks (keep in mind I did ad bio-tone at 1/2 the recommended rate to my mix) then last feed/water I only gave them 500 ppm's of Maxibloom. I think I'm going to give them a 1,000 ppm (.5 conversion) and see what they say about that. I'll try the other probe on my PH meter before hand, it would be nice to adjust the PH of the feed water.

Day 24 (Except for the lowryder of course)

As you can see I took some clones for the next & final round, then it's off to the great outdoors for the summer. Also, I'm going to reveg all the plants from every run & put them outside, should be interesting, I mean why throw out good plants when I have spots with perfect soil that I can stick an unlimited #

 

[shorty68]

like ur set-up and admire the pics thx

 

[TB Gardens]

lookin goooood

 

[Leroy Brown]

Things still apper to be going downhill in both HPS rooms, but I think I have found the problem, I have some sort of pest problem with thrip like larvae under my pots, please check my thread in the infirmary if you think you might be able to help: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=206192

Thanks for all the compliments.

 

[Leroy Brown]

Well I THINK I've got my problems figured out, not sure still, but plants are looking better & packing it on. I have some fucking nanners showing on a few plants though, one I found a seed, it was my favorite plant, I decided to pull it, maybe not the brightest move but man am I glad I have clones of her, dense rock hard nuggets that have this crazy unique candy smell. Out of 30+ girls if I had to pick 1 it would be her, there's better quality but the production was amazing & none can fuck with her smell. I'm pretty sure I still pulled 1.5 oz's off her with only 5 weeks of 12/12, definitely at least an ounce though.

My clone situation is kinda whack, I will be potting them up tonight & giving them more light. But hey, at least they rooted, & like 75% success rate at that, even the ones that sat in a bag in the fridge for a while.

On with the pics, yeah- the MH room didn't have the problems the HPS rooms did, I attribute it to the pondliner in the HPS rooms, either it leached toxic pvc chemicals, or caused my pots to not drain, maybe both, that's been resolved though. Plants are finally starting to drink again, but still not drinking/transpiring like they should I feel. Oh well. On with the pics-

 

[killerweed31]

hey man your nugget look so dank...very healthy and green grow!! i appreciate the big pot look interesting metod!!

 

[BrnCow]

First grow huh!

 

[Leroy Brown]

Indoors yes, I've grown off & on outdoors since I was 13 or 14 though, but it's ENTIRELY different. It's a love hate relationship for sure, but overall I don't think I like indoors, #1 reason- I worry that they would shoot my dog during a raid, it fucking eats me up inside, think about it several times a day. I still see myself doing 10k's in a few years though, funny how this addiction works. I've never had a harvest that didn't leave me saying "I should have ran more"

 

[TicalionStalion]

you cant let the dog thing stop you from doin your thing indoors. thats like saying I dont wanna drive because someone may run me off the road and kill me. man, be smart, stay safe and secure, and you shouldnt be worrying about a raid. I hope this isnt the reason you stop indoors. your lookin good bro, especially for ur first run. I say keep goin, itll only get way better and easier....just play it smart and stay safe and under the radar.

cool thread, I like ur style.

 

[Leroy Brown]

Thanks, that kinda puts it into perspective.

Got a little problem/question-

I've been having some hermi's pop up here & there, ONLY in the two rooms that I accidentally left the closet lights on one night, don't know if that has something to do with it, but that's not the question anyways-

What's up with these weird hermi nanner's I have? They don't look like a regular male flower, they come out of the buds near the top (Not like the straight up hermis I've seen outdoors at all) and almost don't appear to come from a calyx. They don't look like they will ever open up, I've been leaving some & watching them for a few days, but on one plant they did have pollen inside, it was still wet but it did have pollen, I also found a seed on that one plant (It's the one I pulled, not the only reason I pulled it though). I have a few plants doing this, just a few nanners on each one, always near the top and very easy to spot. I'm going to let them keep going, but should I be concerned with these & inspecting every bud daily or are these the sterile nanners I've heard mention of.

TIA

 

[Leroy Brown]

Day 50

Shitbag clones:

But hey, one of them is starting to look healthy, a few others are coming around:

Either way, the chop is coming soon & I don't have much to flower out, and short on time, plus OD season is coming up...... time to pop a few beans.......

Oh, and I got a new scrubber.........

OK, on with the flower pics..........

It's getting to be a jungle, glad I didn't take a shot of the sativa's in this room, pathetic, more like vines.....

Ummm, week 7 & I swear even my hybrids are still stretching, WTF....

On with the HPS room, thank god you can't see how fucking yellow they are

Popcorn anyone?

Oh, and on that note lets end with a little lesson. Indica's don't like to much nitrogen, none of my plants do, ooooops, but this one, this one right here, yeah she's hurtin' for certain...........

 

[Guest3498]

Hey don't beat yourself up man, I think things are looking killer for the most part in there. Some nice work for sure, I be following

Getting any nice stinks off the girls? Homemade seeds?