600W coco, blumats & KISS

[MrAwder]

Spent this weekend working on a new space. Graduating from a 300W CFL cab to this. Going to try and keep this short.

Info:

• 600W Galaxy + Digilux
• 8" 740CFM fan
• 8"x24" Phresh Filter
• Blumats (not installed yet)
• H&G Coco
• KISS (MaxiBloom)
• Containers are cheap reusable grocery store bags. Got them for $1 each. Similar material to smart pots.

Strains:

• 1 Satori (Sky Rocket Pheno)
• 1 SSH x Blue Satellite 2.2
• 1 "G13 x NL" (gifted clone)
• 1 "Candy" (gifted clone, maybe Candy Kush?)

Method:
First run in this space and I need to get in a crop asap. So this time I'm just doing 4 plants and hoping they are not over-vegged and turn into good sized bushes. Eventually I would like to move up to a 30+ plant SOG with shelves but I need to get my clones and veg up to speed first. I do lots of training and lots of defoliating. Aiming for ~6 superb colas per plant in this case.

Pics (first 4):

1. Original Shower
   
2. Capped shower pipes
   
3. Put a roof on it (3/4" plywood)
   
4. Scrubber in and exhaust prepped
   

 

[MrAwder]

pt. 2

pt. 2

More Pics:

1. Fan mounted up top
   
2. Scrubber re-mounted. Did not like the first setup.
   
3. Re-caulked the floor. It was cracked and the tiles were shifted.
   
4. Much foil tape went into the making of this.
   

 

[MrAwder]

pt. 3

pt. 3

Last set:

1. Reflectix up.
   
2. Made the first door. I suck at carpentry but it works.
   
3. Ladies are in.
   
4. Lights on.
   

Next steps:

• Finish 2nd door.
• Reflctix doors & ceiling
• Install blumats (waiting on fittings)
• Replace tiny fan with stanley blower

Thanks for reading. Quick question on pruning and training... I want to flip these tomorrow. Should I wait until AFTER stretch to remove sucker branches and defoliate? I believe this is what DHF advocates so you do not stunt the plant during stretch. So flip tomorrow and then trim the beasts back in 2ish weeks, or trim tomorrow and just flip them?

Thanks

 

[rives]

Looking good! A floor drain with Blumats is worth it's weight it gold, I think. You might want to put some of those cheap, shallow catch pans under the plants so that you have a way to detect when you are having runaway problems and let you know which plant it is.

If you run into problems with headroom, what I have done on my new installation is build an air-tight box above the ceiling and connected it to the grow area with a large hole. I am moving the filter up into the box, and setting the fan outside of it. This gave me enough space to move the plants up enough so that I'm not always on my knees trying to work on them.

I usually wait until roughly day 21 after 12/12 before I start doing any serious pruning. Don't know about other folks, but it works well for me.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I usually wait until roughly day 21 after 12/12 before I start doing any serious pruning. Don't know about other folks, but it works well for me.

I wait till day 24 and then trim over the next five days.

 

[rives]

I wait till day 24 and then trim over the next five days.

Good point. I also try to do the trimming over several days in order to minimize the shock.

 

[d3cryption]

keep up the good work..

 

[MrAwder]

day 3

day 3

Quick update.

Got the 2nd door on. All sealed up. Used a flap reflectix on one door and an extra piece of wood on the opposite door to create an overlapping light barrier. Pretty much worked out. Still need to add some weatherstripping and re-tape some corners but very close to 100% lightproof.

1. Doors Closed
   
2. Open left door first
   
3. Viola
   

I flushed each pot with 1+ gallon of pH 6.0 water. Then fed each with a 1/2 gallon of full stength (7g) MaxiBloom which brings my tap to a pH of 6.1 and 1 drop of drip clean per gallon. Today is Day 0 of flower. Lights will come on at 6pm tomorrow and hopefully by then I will have Blumats in place. I also need to pick up some bamboo stakes and pipe cleaners because I think it's going to get crazy in there come stretch.

Next time I'll share some pics of the veg tent and the seeds I'll be popping for round 2.

 

[MrAwder]

Tonight I will be setting up my blumat reservoirs and laying out tubing. Waiting on the 3/32" fittings from Kent systems and extra feed line before I can hook them up. The basic plan is a 30 gallon res on the floor with a 330-GPH 80" head pump going up to a 5 gallon bucket with 1/2" tubing, overflow back down to main res. Use 1/2" line for distribution from the bucket in a loop with on/off valve.

Quick question for anyone following. Any ideas on light proof intakes? The only area I can really work with is the doors. I am thinking about cutting out an 8"x8" intake on each door at the bottom and covering with a furnace filter. Inside the doors are covered in reflectix but have a 1" gap because of the frame. If I cut matching 8" intakes in the reflectix 2 feet above the intakes cut into the door will this work? Or will that 1" gap be too limiting on air flow? The 1" gap is roughly 20" long on each door. If you look at how I constructed the doors in one of the earlier pics it should be clearer the gap I am referring to.

thanks

 

[MrAwder]

Held up on the Blumats. My first attempt at making an elevated res feed system did not turn out well. Last night I ordered a bunch of new fittings to re-attempt it. Then I saw what Ichabod Crane was doing over in his thread and might end up re-designing a third time. Kind of frustrated with the money I seem to keep flushing away on ideas that don't work... but it will be worth it to have a worry and hassle free system. Every time I leave the hardware store I swear it's the last time....

Pics

My attempt at 1/2" bulkhead fittings. They did not leak but did not inspire confidence either.



After 3 days of working here is what the floor looks like. Stared at it for 15 minutes trying to find a tiny nut.



Found it!



Cut intakes on each door. Need to find a clean way to incorporate the filters. I'm now considering an active intake but the only place I have to work with is the doors or the ceiling. Intake on the ceiling does not seem like it will work and I don't really want a fan or ducting attached to the door. Any ideas? Maybe cut the intake in the ceiling and run ducting down along the back wall?



Besides the failed attempt at blumat setup I also got the area cleaned up last night. Finally got all the tools back in their right places and such. Every day I kept thinking there was no point in cleaning up since I'd be back at it tomorrow... then each day it seemed like I was spending more time looking for tools then doing stuff. Lesson learned: putting things away saves time.

So now I am waiting on grommets, kent systems fittings and 3mm drip line from 3 different places. Hoping it all comes in by the weekend so I can get this setup. Hand watering till slight run-off in the meantime. Once the grommets come in I plan on taking one to the store and seeing if 1/2" PVC will fit in it. If so I am going to ditch tubing altogether and go all PVC.

Finally figured out inserting full sized images in a post too!

 

[rives]

The best/cheapest bulkhead fittings that I've found are from eBay. It's unbelievable what they cost locally!

 

[In The Wind]

 

[MrAwder]

updates 1

updates 1

Blumats are installed and dialed! Right now it is setup with 1/2" feed to elevated 5 gal. 1/2" output to blumats & 3/4" overflow return. I used 1/2" and 3/4" grommets and 90* elbows to get a water tight seal to the bucket. Main res is 27 gallon tote. I am using the lowest GPH pump that could pump 70" vertical. I think its around 250GPH... way overkill. I am using some zip ties and cloths pins to reduce the flow a bit right now. I am having this vacuum/suction issue where every 10-15 mins it sounds like someone is flushing a tiny toilet. It has something to do with how much pressure is building up before the 3/4" overflow will catch up to draining. Not really sure the best way to resolve it other than just putting the pump on a timer.

Lower res / full system


Elevated res, inlet and overflow. Exhaust fan. Feed to blumats is on the other side about 2/3 between the bottom and the inlet.


I would like to replace the tube with PVC and add some valves. Possibly even a T piece to divert the pump to a nearby utility sink for easing draining. This pretty much just requires picking up some PVC, fittings, and making sure it will fit these grommets. Next paycheck.

Here is a group shot. This is day 7 of flower. Individual shots in next post.

 

[MrAwder]

day 7

day 7

Individual shots. I went ahead and hacked of most sucker branches over the first 4 days of flower. Definitely set them back a bit but they are starting to bounce back. I train similar to Ichabod by pulling more developed lateral branches back into the centers of the plants which have been cleared of growth. I position these below the main bud sites. I am trying to create a trained "stadium" of buds on each plant.

SSH x Blue Satellite 2.2
Accidental pollination from what was believed to be a BS 2.2 that hermied. Have about a dozen more of these to search through but this one produces pretty well.


Satori - Skyrocket Pheno
Have grown this out 3 times now.


G13 x NL
I *think*, it was one of 2 gifted clones that were mixed. It's indica stature makes me think it has the NL and G13 in it


Candy?
The other of the gifted clones. Only identified as "candy" it is very lanky and has crazy long node spacing. Unless it turns out fantastic I do not think it will be returning. Would be glad to hear any thoughts on what it could possibly be.


I need to get some buckets to raise up the bushy plants to match the super lanky one. Not too worried right now since I'm still trying to get them to stretch a bit.

 

[d3cryption]

bud porn on it way ... sshxbs2.2 looks like it will have nice size colas....

 

[MrAwder]

rezzzz

rezzzz

Third time is the charm for setting up the elevated blumat res...



Not sure if it was moving up to 1" overflow or adding the T to the overflow but no more siphon/suction/flushing sound every few minutes.

Yes that's a cutting board on top. Can't seem to find a single lid even though I know I must have 5 or 6 around.

Everything is humming along nicely. Topped of the res today. At 6.0pH and 1350ppm. That is 7g MaxiBloom and 1g pH down per gallon of tap.

 

[TuckerJ]

Cool setup! Id top that sat. leaning plant as it will probably stretch like crazy for weeks yet! Keep it up!

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Then I saw what Ichabod Crane was doing over in his thread and might end up re-designing a third time. Kind of frustrated with the money I seem to keep flushing away on ideas that don't work...

he he , been there done that. I could write a book on it over the last 5 years. And i still do it every week.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Then I saw what Ichabod Crane was doing over in his thread and might end up re-designing a third time. Kind of frustrated with the money I seem to keep flushing away on ideas that don't work...

Dam me, dam me to hell!!

This web site sucks if you want to stay the same. Every ones ideas are like candy. Just have to have it no matter what the cost is.

 

[MrAwder]

Well I had a long response written up and lost it. Just some quick updates, no pics right now because its booooring in there.

At 16 days of flower today. Next Monday I will start taking large fans.

I confirmed the tall lanky crazy girl is Candy Kush. Smoked some and it was delicious and had a very relaxing effect with a clear head. Not too sleepy. Good for the evening. Grabbed 3 more cuts hoping I can get something to survive. I had to top the 2 tallest shoots off it because it was just too tall and still growing. I tried some LST/HST but then got frustrated and just snipped them off. I was told that it will create tons of golf-ball sized nugs and to not worry too much about losing those tops because it is not really a "big cola" strain.

I originally tried putting the other 3 on milk crates but then they were also too tall and my light height was limited by the filter.

Had the worst result ever with my seeds. Out of 5 Killing Fields, 5 KO Kush, 3 Iced Grapefuit, 2 Freebies... I ended up with 1 KF and 2 IG. I'm hoping this is due to a multiple day power outtage and the warm/humid refrigerator environment they were in is the cause. If that's the case it is a good excuse to buy more beans and means I am not at fault!

Also picked up some clones of SLH and White Rhino, both from GHS stock. I'll be running these next time along with whatever I select to keep from the current run.

I will be continually working on my cloning technique over the coming weeks. I am hoping to be able to feed 19 plants into this next round. 3 per shelf, 2 shelves on 3 walls + 1 tree on a modular screen which I can easily move away from the door to get in there.

Now I'm just waiting on clones and seedlings to veg and stretch to stop. I hate waiting....