1000w 4x4 3 plant scrog "Shark Tooth"

[opek]

This is my first time trying my hand at this stuff. I've done a bunch of reading and this site really stands out with consistent and excellent information. So far I haven't killed myself or my plants.

I grabbed some clones called Shark Tooth. Vegged four of them out for seven weeks in a 4x4 tent under 1000 watts, ran out of space so I pulled one out to be a mother and set up the scrog for the renaming three. And of course I cut some clones. I let the three go for another week totaling 8 weeks then flipped the lights.

I've been running veg+bloom with roots excelurator and drip clean starting with an ec of .4 early on up to 1.3 during week 8 of veg in response to yellowing leaves. I have pulled back to 1.2 and will probably continue to pull 1 point a week for the next 2-4 weeks, depending on what the plant looks like.

80-85*F lights on 70* lights off. 50% RH. 370cfm blowing through 1 large hood sitting 12 inches off the plants. co2 injected in the lamest possible way. 9kbtu portable ac's cold side piped into the tent.

So far things are going reasonably well, but I can't help but fear something bad will happen due to my lack of experience.

Tips tricks advice?


Here we are at week 8:

Sorry for the hps.
And sorry for the blurry pics




11 days in flower.

11 days into flower:

 

[RonSmooth]

I don't see the screen?

If its in there, I think you might want to train them a bit more to fill the screen and flip. Continue training by bending the tops back under the screen. You'll get more bud sites exposed to the light and a more even canopy. It should look almost flat. No big deal, they'll flower just fine. You just aren't getting the benefits of using a SCROG.

They look healthy though. They are really going to fill that space. Consider pruning the lower branches that are shaded out for better air flow and more focus on the tops.

Maybe I am missing something but how does running AC provide CO2? Is it a sealed room or do you have intakes & exhaust?

Is your light air cooled? How is it set up?

 

[opek]

There is a screen in there, but it's not doing too much at this point. It's about 10-12" below the top of the canopy. It's helped the plants fill out the the corners of the tent during veg, but it's probably not doing much right now. So next time I should wait until it's closer to flower to drop the scrog in, so I don't overgrow it?

I snipped all the fruiting branches below the canopy, but I feel like I could have pruned more during veg or even had a thinner canopy. I'm not sure. I'll snap some pics.

I assumed that growing 3 plants out very big would make for big colas, but the more I read when I see the giant colas I see plants which only have 8 or so branches where each one is a large cola. Giant buds are definitely part of my goal, but with what I've got right now I'm no where near it! :x

It's a 4x4 tent. The AC cold side pulls from the tent and exhausts back to the tent. The hood is vented from outside of the tent to outside of the tent. So it's mostly sealed. A little tape here and there. Co2 is supplied by a tank with a timer. I know. It's bad. I put the Co2 in 3 weeks ago to help the plants agree with the higher temps and the plants have responded by not dieing. So far it's a win. I won't know how well it is set up until I get my my CHHC.

 

[opek]

Is there no edit function? If you look in the second pic near the bottom you can see the clearest bits of the screen.

 

[RonSmooth]

If giant buds are a goal, dont do anything but let the plant grow. The plant you describe is what they look like naturally.

SCROG, topping and other training are usually done on indoor plants so they can be spread out to make most effective use of artificial light. Not many people have the room or wattage to grow 6-10ft plants so training is used to shape the plants growth.

When you bend the plant so the main shoot is not closest to the light, the plant redistributes hormones to other branches. They become main stems and grow as one. When you bend or cut the main "apical" or "terminal" shoot, the plant sends another to the top (apical dominance)

the result of all this is many terminal buds. So you are in a way just dividing that huge main cola up into many smaller buds.

I dont get the fascination with huge colas. What good is a 2 liter bottle sized cola? Besides for posing with and as a bud rot factory...

I would rather have a plant full of nice golf ball size buds any day. o

 

[opek]

I see. So if I want bigger buds I need to not top the plant and let it grow naturally. Here you can see how I've trimmed it so far.

 

[grassott's dad]

Opek, I reckon your grow is fantastic considering its your first grow. You're gonna get fecken huge colas in a month (and personally, I love feck off HUGE donkey dick colas, yummy).

Just keep doing what you're doing atm coz you're doing a good job. But now they're in flower, dont trim or top em anymore. Nice man

 

[opek]

Thanks for the kind words dad. Is it ok to remove the smallest new growth (shoots 2mm and less in dia and less than 15cm long) or should I just stay away.

 

[opek]

The buds in the center look stressed so I pulled the plants down about 4 inches. Here are some shots of day 17.

Right now it's at 1.2ec. The whole grow I've been using 100% ro water and hitting the plants 4 times a day every 6 hours until 10% runoff.

You can see in the third pic how close to the corner of the tent that guy is. And in the first pic the most stressed of them all.

 

[ganesh56]

re

re

What was your final yield?

 

[medicalmj]

Nice looking grow!

About the edit button; I believe you need 50 posts for that.

I did my first scrog back in about 93-94. It just so happened I had a Kush strain that absolutely loved it. Now I got some finicky strains that will piss out if you don't get it just right. With what I see you may have saved a little time with a more focused scrog, but you got well packed thick nugs. And that is a better bet over attempting intense training on an untested plant. So I like what you did. Also, when I'm doing intense training I let my tops get some girth before I flip. i got a technique I won't bore you with but it comes down to having a flat canopy with equally full/thick/mature looking tops, the look the top would have after a month of growth.

 

[opek]

Ganesh, it will be chopped down in 4-5 weeks probably (it was flipped Sept 16th).

And thanks medical. I had a hunch it was a post limited thing, but in some ways no edits and no pm's made sense for security. And it would be a bore at all to hear about fat tops. The knowledge is available, it's the experience I'm really struggling with.

 

[opek]

Let me try that last line again. There is no shortage of information available, but experience tempers knowledge.

 

[ydijadoit]

Lookin' mighty fine, Opek.
The way that strain grows, looks very much like the Dinafem Critical Jack I grew for awhile (Pics in my album). I never really got it perfect, as a scrog. It stretched like crazy, and I always wound up with branches a foot and a half above my screen, instead of the nice running colas I always see in pictures. Knock out smoke, but an unreal amount of trimming popcorn buds.
Looks like you are in the same boat with this one. You could trim undergrowth more, but you could also just ride it out, not mess with success, and make dry ice hash, or something with all the popcorn.
I'm betting you'll pull about 1lb total from that, and about 12+ zips of really nice nugs, the rest being fluffy popcorn...
They look to have plenty of N at this point, but it sounds like you are on the ball with lowering the EC over the next few weeks.
For a first grow, it sets a standard. A hell of a lot better than my first attempt!
Regards

 

[opek]

And it would be a bore at all to hear about fat tops.

And it wouldn't be a bore at all to hear about fat tops!!!


Yeah if I don't get 1lb I'm gonna be a sad sally. I was really hoping I could pull 20oz on my first harvest. But without a doubt I'll be there eventually!

I was gifted two bottles of carboload, but I'm only running 1.5ml/gallon as I am going through 40 gallons of res a week.

 

[medicalmj]

And it wouldn't be a bore at all to hear about fat tops!!!


Yeah if I don't get 1lb I'm gonna be a sad sally. I was really hoping I could pull 20oz on my first harvest. But without a doubt I'll be there eventually!

I was gifted two bottles of carboload, but I'm only running 1.5ml/gallon as I am going through 40 gallons of res a week.

Yeah experience is key when training plants. And what I learned is you keep on learning. Especially when trying new strains.

Unless something fucks up really bad I can't see why you won't get 20 zips. Depending on how dense your strain gets you could much more from how nicely they filled out so far.

 

[opek]

23 days in and things are still looking pretty good. I took like 30 pictures and 2 weren't blurry. Ha! The colas directly under the light have responded SO well to being lowered, the leaves aren't curling up on the edges as they were in nearly every other picture in this thread. I feel a thousand times more comfortable.

 

[opek]

Here we are at 31 days. The first signs of orange hairs and a little too low on the EC. Hopefully I can start my flush soon. Gonna do the super safe 3 week.

You can see in these two from the center of the room it's a little bit yellowed from the light.

 

[ydijadoit]

Nice job. Looking very frosty! Are you sure you aren't sand bagging us, and this is actually your 5th or 6th year of growing? My first grow yielded some decent bud, but it was the plant's miraculous ability to survive abuse, that got me there Yours are thriving!
Are you planning to hit them with a bloom booster of any kind? I have had visible, repeatable results with powdered Kool Bloom, at 1/4 tsp per gallon. I hit them at week 5-6, and then discontinue.
I reread your thread, and I'm still not sure what you are growing in?? Is that coco drain to waste, hempy buckets, or??
Whatever the system ,it sure seems to work. I look forward to your updates, as I just picked up a 5x5 tent, and I have 3 clones ready to go in, that have been languishing in my veg cab for a month. This thread is excellent motivation!
Regards

 

[opek]

Running drain to waste in three gallon regular buckets. lots of reading and environmental control got me here. learning how to prune will help me a lot. thanks for the kind words. I want to try a bloom but I set myself up for kiss nutes and will try to keep it that way. I am adding some carboload.