250w Pancakery

[Pancake5765]

Greetings all, I have been reading through these forums for years. Finally being a red-card carrying Denver resident I feel obliged to share my current, tiny, garden.
I have been growing for many years at this point and have researched and learned what I consider a good knowledge base to express my own style of garden. In every cab or room I have created I:
keep the ballasts up high or out of the room
vent out the top and intake from the bottom/separate room
scrub the air with carbon filters before venting
keep a clean and bare bottom 1/3+ on all flowering plants
oscillate the pH across waterings, approx 6.2 to 6.5 to 6.7 and back down again
try to keep temps under 85F


Here is a good low end pH I like.

This is a good clean bottom IMO

Currently my garden consists of a:

50w florescent Veg nightstand - 12"x12"x20" growing area

250w HPS Flower cab - 48"x20"x50" growing area

You can see the fan/filter behind the ballast at the top of the cab. With the divider it keeps the temps down in the 70s unless the room air is over 70 itself. I think the proportionally larger than average height separation between the bottom intake and top vent helps move the hot air up using a strong thermal differential, moving air even where the fan is not actively blowing/pulling.



Being such a low plant count in a little cab I made a little gladware cloner to root a full 5 plant cab run with an extra clone site to spare.

 

[Pancake5765]

The current run consists of five strains. Sage and Sour, Cold Creek Kush, Cataract Kush, Golden Goat #1, Shire. Here they are in that order at approx day 42 flower.

They are all sativa leaning except the Cataract kush. In the small grows I like to sneak a little Indica plant in the middle "hole" the the four main plants leave. Like a bonus prize for working on my careful plant pruning.

 

[Pancake5765]

Here is the current canopy. I like the lumpiness to let light penetrate farther down in some areas, which shifts with the daily rotation around the center plant. Getting more bud with the little 250's meager penetration strength.

Usually I pull 4.5 to 5.5 oz from a run on this cab. Scrogging in the past has more usually hit the 5.5 mark, but I can live with a few quarters less if I don't have to be as attentive to tying down and pruning.

More updates to come . .

 

[Pancake5765]

OH and I wanna support making your own paper form book of information and ideas. I find it helps me to flesh out my understandings of things and gives me a memory trigger for everything I have taken time to write down. Being I avid Douglas Adams fan I have a common cover to my "Guides"

 

[nephrosis]

whaaaa i need this setup!!!! this is exactly the wattage i need and perfect setup! hmmmm i gotta go buy some materials

 

[nephrosis]

i failed my first 2 (not failed but learned quite a bit) so now this is something im going to plan on building. ooo i want to watch yours over time.

 

[MrCopyZ]

OH and I wanna support making your own paper form book of information and ideas. I find it helps me to flesh out my understandings of things and gives me a memory trigger for everything I have taken time to write down. Being I avid Douglas Adams fan I have a common cover to my "Guides"

View Image

Wouldn't it suck if your mother inlaw saw that book lol.

Handwritten journal for Marijuana growers.

 

[nephrosis]

thats a legit book....

 

[Pancake5765]

Wouldn't it suck if your mother inlaw saw that book lol.

She took notes from it!

 

[Pancake5765]

Everyone is doing well and good. Most of the flowering plants are going to need a stake or two soon. Except the Sage and Sour, its branching structure and thickness are quite sufficient.

The veg nightstand is packed full of moms and clones, ready to fill the flower cab in a month or so.

Some nice frosting is coming in. I can't wait to see them at harvest!

Shire

Golden Goat #1

 

[touchofgrey]

Looking nice but I see a little tip burn there. What are you feeding them?

 

[Pancake5765]

Looking nice but I see a little tip burn there. What are you feeding them?

I like the Gen Hydro line. I had just finished pushing the ferts to the max for the last few weeks before flushing. No PPM pen so I just push it until they push back a little, then I ease off.

 

[bill cooper]

If you improve your training to get a more even canopy you could yield a lot more , i usually yield between 7 to 8 1/2 oz from a similar set up with a 250 watt and that's with me being a lazy grower, i multi top them to get plenty of flower tops ,then supercrop to keep the canopy level and strip between a half and 2 thirds of the lower growth depending on how tall the plants are 6 1/2 oz min per grow but usually around 8 oz and no need for the hassle of a scrog net

 

[Growfish hifi]

great looking plants nice set up keep up the good work ...

 

[Pancake5765]

If you improve your training to get a more even canopy you could yield a lot more , i usually yield between 7 to 8 1/2 oz from a similar set up with a 250 watt and that's with me being a lazy grower, i multi top them to get plenty of flower tops ,then supercrop to keep the canopy level and strip between a half and 2 thirds of the lower growth depending on how tall the plants are 6 1/2 oz min per grow but usually around 8 oz and no need for the hassle of a scrog net

My goodness that sure is something to shoot for. Maybe if I did more pinching at the tops I could improve . . . . next time I'll try it out.

 

[Pancake5765]

Everything's going along smoothly. Everyone but the Shire have been flushing for six days now. The Cataract Kush for 10 days.

I was going to chop the Cataract Kush tomorrow, but I am only seeing cloudy trics none are amber yet, so maybe a couple more days. All the others are clouding up nicely, still have a week I think.

Overall a nice little crop I think. Looking tasty for sure!


Sage and Sour

Cold Creek Kush

Golden Goat #1

Cataract Kush

The Shire is camera shy today in the cab. She has gone out of sync, watering wise. with the rest of the gals. I assure you she is quite beautiful and growing.

Until next time

 

[Pancake5765]

And a close-up of the Cold Creek Kush and Cataract Kush.

 

[Pancake5765]

Update. Cataract Kush and Golden Goat #1 cut and fan leaves trimmed off. Hanging in an empty aquarium in a wardrobe cabinet.

Maybe being in the enclosure will help slow the drying?

Regardless they both looked yummy enough already that I'm sure it will smoke nicely. Pictures trumped by aching eye currently.

On a funny side note. My glaucoma was spiking up to the 60s yesterday, so I was hitting the bubbler and eye drops steadily. Some neighbor complained that my door was pumping out smell to the apartment manager, and I got a polite typed letter suggesting I smoke by an open window or even go out onto my patio to smoke. I love Colorado

 

[Pancake5765]

Chop chop chop. Everyone is down but the Shire. Golden Goat and Cataract Kush were sugar leaf trimmed tonight, Goat so dry its in a jar already. The Sage and Sour and Cold Creek Kush got their fan leaf trim tonight and are hanging for a few days. I think the Goat is an ounce maaaybe, same for the Cataract. S&S and CCK both are decently over an ounce each. BUT time will tell the real weight. Onward with the pictures.


Cold Creek Kush

Sage and Sour

Trimmed and hung

Cataract Kush Trimmed

Goat in a jar

Shire gets chopped in a few waterings.

 

[Pancake5765]

Final weight on all but the Shire is in! Golden Goat #1 29g, Cataract Kush 17.5g, Sage and Sour 37.5, Cold Creek Kush 32g. Looking at the last two I will bet the Shire comes over 1.5 oz and maybe close to 2.

That is a subtotal of 116g or 4.1oz. With the Shire adding to that I'm happy as a clam.

Here is the jars so far. Left to right, Cataract Kush, Sage and Sour, Golden Goat #1, Cold Creek Kush.

The Shire pre-trim and hung.