First Grow!! 2400w Flood and Drain

[bigfoot6913]

Hello my fellow growers!
My plan was to get 5lbs from 4 bagseed plants under 2400w of light!
But alas...
One of my lil ladies grew balls and I had to cut him down like the lil bastard he was.
So my modified outlook is......... 5lbs from 3 plants!
　
I have only ever grown 3 lil clones in the backyard. So I took this as a personal challenge and test of my skills.
　
My build is totally based on information taken from this site and another one where im posting my grow as well. Truth be told Im not getting near enough feedback or pats on the back for that matter lol
My grow methods are based on my own thoughts and ideas that the interwebz has inspired!
　
Long story short "The ladies" have been in varying incarnations of my setup for almost 40 days as its grown and been dialed in.
Ive LSTed, Topped, Fimmed and supercropped them to have almost 40 individual tops growing from the plants at only 10 inches tall!
At this moment the setup...
　
1400w MH Aircooled
1000w HPS Aircooled
10Gal Rubbermaids
30Gal Main Res
Hydroton
DNF 2 part Veg nutes + a few additives
IGS 110 Climate controller
5000 BTU A/C Humidifier
Lots of Fans (lots) 30 Sec Flood every 3 hours 24 hours of light

In the works...
Switching to 2x 600w HPS 1x 1kw MH
50gal piggyback Res.
Bucket upgrade from 10Gal to either 14Gal or 18Gal totes.
A 40"W x 120"L, 2" Chicken wire Screen
　
Day 4

Day 13

Day 17

Day 23

 

[bigfoot6913]

Day 32

 

[DrRav]

Very nice. Pullin up a chair

My plan was to get 5lbs from 4 bagseed plants under 2400w of light!
So my modified outlook is......... 5lbs from 3 plants!

That made me lol the way you slipped it in there

 

[bigfoot6913]

Happy to have you onboard!


It may be a while before we see any bud though...

I figure theres still 2 or 3 weeks of veg left to hit the height I need for my screen :/


This is my inspiration (Im pretty sure its from this forum...)

The major differences being Hydro, my training technique and my 40" x 120" screen to be filled

 

[bigfoot6913]

Sooo Many pictures!!

The girls tonight after a thorough defoliation this morn

Agatha

Day 41 Profile

Day 41

Upskirt!

 

[bigfoot6913]

Clementine

Day 41 Profile

Day 41

Upskirt!

 

[bigfoot6913]

Delilah

Day 41 profile

Day 41

Upskirt!

Hope someone is enjoying this grow besides me!

 

[Mr.Bill]

Looks great, great plan, excellent manipulation of the plants themselves, just make sure to take in account especially from the picture of the grow you are emulating, the amount of space between the medium and the bottom of the plant, this is very important for several reasons. For solid airflow to help the bottom half of a eventually very full canopy to breath. To help keep the humidity level of the buds themselves down to avoid such things as molds and bug infestations from taking root in your plants as the closer you get to the medium the higher the relative humidity is going to be, regardless of how much circulation airflow is in the room. Also with the added gap from medium to actual plant matter you will get more airflow through the canopy itself. With a canopy size that you plan on having I would advise somewhere between 10-12 inches from medium to bottom of canopy for proper airflow and stable humidity levels. Just my 2 take it for what it is. Good Luck and happy harvest bud, I'll enjoy watching your progress, and if you'll have it, I'll chip in any help that I possibly can when and if you should need it, as will many others here I'm sure. Late

~SB~

 

[bigfoot6913]

Thanks a lot for your insight Mr.Bill. I have been focusing on air movement all the way along and intend to keep it at the top of my "important shit" list.

Basically the plan was to have the screen 26" above the medium, thats about my max height with the 600w lights. Im allowing 6"-8" above the screen for the buds themselves.

Having said that...

The recent idea that I must transplant to stop my girls from getting any more rootbound has me moving my plants up 8"-10" and negating the need for that extra growth height and maintaining a canopy at around 16"-18" above the medium...

Its a Win win if you ask me.

Just a little insight into the plan... The screen will have approx. 1200 holes in it and I want to see at least half if not all of them full.

Given that each plant has 40ish main nodes and Ive been doing some lollipopping to keep that number down. But I intend to top the main branches at least once more. Doubling the main tops to 80 or so on each plant and allowing 3 or 4 nodes from each of those tops to reach the screen as well.



Thanks again for getting involved. Its nice to get feedback on something I cant talk to anyone about lol

 

[bigfoot6913]

Res upgrade completed today.

Found a rain barrel out back, had a lil pond pump and lots of hose and fittings...

50Gal drum outside of grow space effectively tripling water capacity for bucket upgrade and nutrient/pH stabilization.
Plus im guessing the few hundred buds will need more than a cup or two of water a day in full bloom

Pump fed from the main res and gravity drain return to main res.

Built in an overflow just incase...

"Waterfall" effect from return line doing a great job of oxygenating the res.

4 Degree drop in average res temp and more consistent PH since implemented.

Top ups and nute changes can now be down without removal of unneccesary ribs and subsequent freak contortionist acts. (Im 6'5 and not exactly "slight")

 

[bigfoot6913]

Threw together a grow log sheet instead of the hand scrawled notes I have been taking.

Comments?

 

[shredGnar]

Do you plan on running the MH for the whole grow? I'd switch it out for a HPS, more usable lumens and less heat...

The plants look great though! plenty of tops that's for sure

best of luck

 

[bigfoot6913]

Due to the concave shape of the screen and the lights i have available I've switched to 2 x 600w hps and a 1000w MH. Though the MH may be hotter. I have more bleaching issues with the 1k hps. Besides that a little mixed spectrum is a good thing.

 

[ekomsi]

That's a bad ass manipulation of the stem. Good luck I cant wait to see these with big sticky buds

 

[bigfoot6913]

Due to variables outside of my control, I'm forced to flower about a week before I want to and I'm really hoping I don't lose too much yield.

So flowering begins on day 47 of Veg!

Unfortunately at the end of this grow I've got tear down my build and find a new home for it all. Along the way in this grow I've developed a passion for growing these lil plants and a curiousity about about their nature. I WILL REBUILD!!

Admittedly its not great news but the silver lining is that I always wanted a more controllable, sealed environment anyways. I've got the CO2 controllers etc to make it happen already.

I want to build a clean tight lab style setup without the 6 and a half foot ceilings and horrible earwig problem. (Yeah earwigs... I've killed 20 since lunch and I got pinched ON MY INNER THIGH today)

I'm intrigued by RCDWC in 50+gal buckets, with big screens, long ass veg times, LST, topping and I've got 5000w to play with and shit tons of ventilation, pumps etc.

I really want to make use of lighting from multiple angles (above, below and around) across both the HPS and MH spectrums.


Soooooo.....


I've decided to scale back on the lollipopping and trimming. I'll basically just let them grow buck wild from here. The smaller lower growth will get a chance to do its thing if it makes it to the screen but I'm not cutting anything more off. I have plenty of airflow below the canopy and its going to get better once the screen is in and the ropes cut.

Transplant tomorrow into 18 Gal totes and screen install. I'm going to cut most of the girls strings once the screen is in place and get it doing its thing.

Expect some before and after shots!

 

[Chunkypigs]

that's some serious bondage there... bit off alot for a 1st grow but your chewing it nice.
best wishes!

 

[Ashtonkusher]

It's not good to grow seeds that you got in a bag because it usually will come from a stressed plant. The seeds also will produce hermaphrodite plants and 9 times out of 10 you will get seeds

 

[bigfoot6913]

First ever post on the site is to tell me not to grow from bag seed?

This grow was a learning experience and I used the seeds I had available.

I've treated these ladies well and kept stress to a minimum. Hopefully they will stay fem and give me what I want. Thats all I can ask for



Thanks for coming out

 

[shredGnar]

Due to the concave shape of the screen and the lights i have available I've switched to 2 x 600w hps and a 1000w MH. Though the MH may be hotter. I have more bleaching issues with the 1k hps. Besides that a little mixed spectrum is a good thing.

Perhaps, however from what I've read and understand enhanced spectrum HPS like hortilux contain all the blue spectrum needed. I would assume you get bleaching from the additional lumens.. how far away are the lamps from your plants?

anyway your plants look great, and if you like the MH keep doing your thing bro..

also I grew a ton of bagseed when I was a kid and don't think I ever saw a hermie and certainly no seeds!!


shred

 

[bigfoot6913]

Thanks for the feedback and positive input Gnar.

The simple truth is that this whole thing is an experiment. Although major changes have been made throughout the grow. I'm going to run mixed spectrum start to finish and learn from it.

The issue with the light bleaching was less noticible under the MH than the HPS at an equal distance.

The majority of the equipment is used and therefore the age of the bulbs is unknown.That could be causing the MH to bleach less as well.

The lights are now hung at their permanent height for the screen and got the 1K MH hung 3-4 inches higher than the two 600w HPS