Marineman's 1st grow journal - 600w Bio buckets

[tokersmoke]

I couldnt imagine letting bud cure for a whole year. Hats off for being able to wait that long.Maybe my stock pile goes to fast to pay bills.. either way all the smoke from the last run is done. I have been growing for 3 years and have never let bud CURE for more then a month.Having said that know that the bud will be 10x better then when barely dry.THe flavors and smoothness change.

Did you take any clones? If not i would try to REVEG a flowering clone just so you have something to carry on. If you havent taken clones before it will be hard to get a flowering clone to root. So take at least 4-5 off the bottom of each plants.

This first run will get you antsy to get something else started.It takes alot longer to start from seed then clone.

Also arrange all the smaller plants in the center.the light is strongest in the center and hopefully the plant will reach for the light making for a more even canopy.I always use to put the best girls under the hotspot.This would make the smallest plants get overshadowed.

Years ago i used to work at a big chain auto repair place.Long story short my boss always had some SUPER FUNK.And would smoke it like it was going out of style.THe other day I bumped into him and struck up a conversation.A couple of minutes later we drove back to his house to check out his ladies.I was BLOWN away.This guy is getting 2 pounds per 1k watt light.He has a flood and drain table 4x8 and 4k watts.So 8 pounds per run.HE runs a two part nutrient called davids grow.

Next day he visited my garden and he lent me 2 1k lights with BRAND new bulbs.We cut out all the larf and plucked a bunch of fan leaves.Something i never do.well its been 14 days since then and Shit has improved 10x.Im 16 days into flowering and look a week ahead.My canopy is even and the whole bottom third of the plants are gone.

Needless to say replacing 2 600s with 2 1000s made a BIG difference.Putting the smallest plants in the middle made everything catch up to the stretchers.Plucking a bunch of fan leaves helped shape the plants to have more even tops.

Point is the smallest details make the biggest difference,I feel like a noob now.Everything i thought i was doing right was wrong.So now i have 2600w pumping over 20 ladies almost 4 foot tall!!And my only prob is the smell!!

 

[cravin morehead]

hey toke-
thats a good problem to have, if you ask me.
ya, having bud over a year old is pretty regular for me. with every harvest i have, i keep an oz or so stashed in a jar. i hit those jars up only after i finished all the rest of a strain. but usually there is something new to keep me going. so alot of those stashed jars are barely even touched. it is nice to be able to take a trip down memory lane once in a while. my last c99bx1 run got me around 4 lbs. just a rough guess because i really don't ever weigh my entire harvest. i kind of just assume i have about an ounce in every jar. i really don't sell any bud. i have made donations to a few clubs, but not much.
good luck running into that guy. you got new 1k lights for free. thats going to really bump up your yield, as long as temps won't be an issue with the increased wattage. nice.
interesting point about moving your shorty's to the center under the hot spot. good thinking. mine are usually tied down so much i can't move them very easily. even though i only tie to each bucket's lid. the root mass fills the entire bucket and i feel like i can do damage if i move them around.
i don't remove fan leaves myself. its debated here for ever. but, i do remove all lower growth for flowering. i really don't end up with much 'larf' or 'popcorn'. any i do have is made into bubble, which i love. i'm glad it is really making that much of a difference for you. now maybe with incresed yields you'll be able to have some bud around to cure for a long time. you should try an 1/8 or so. just to see how much it really changes the whole experience. i think you'll dig it. but, once again to each their own.
glad to hear of your improvments bud.
hey marimeman- have you considered adding a batwing reflector to your cool tube? they are cheap too. might help you contain and direct alot more lumens to where you want them. not just spreading out in the entire room. once again, thats where a tent would help. but you know that.

cm

 

[tokersmoke]

I have never cut anything off of my plants until harvest.So i was def on the fence about things.But all doubt has been removed.Ive only had closet rodeos for years and i smoke at least an eighth a day so its hard to conserve.I should have enough to save this time for sure!!Ill borrow a camera and share my progress soon!

Really going up 800w watts didnt raise the room temp very much.I went from 75-78 with the same setting on the ac.My new room is really rocking it.The insulation and hard work payed off.We have had 95 degree days without a hiccup never went over 80! even under the 1ks i have no heat from the lights and plants are closer then 12 inches without burn.I have two 6 inch fans cooling the lights atm.

 

[marinemansf]

Hey pimps! Finally starting to get nice out here, good day to roll out my beast and give her a bath, vacuum and a wax! (06 300C SRT-8) Shes got over 500 HP! And thats with over 200 lbs of stereo over the rear wheels... 2 JL Dub 7's and 2 JL HD amps. I love smoking the shit out of ricers, stangs, cameros and even other chrylser srt-8s, with a fucking sedan!

Anywho. Crave, how come you dont just start your seeds in rockwool or oasis cubes. Isnt it more difficult to transplant the seeds to the rockwool/oasis cubes after they popped?

Toke, no i didnt take any clones this run. Main reason why is cause I really dont smoke a SHIT TON of weed atm, which im sure will change once I dont have to pay for it anymore, and I really dont want to run anymore of the white widow x big bud. Really the only reason I chose this strain in the first place, was to use a super potent and high yielding strain. So this run will prolly last me ATLEAST 6 months. Plenty of time to get a new strain that I actually WANT to run grown from seed, flowered and dried/cured. But I for sure will start running clones during my next run. And when i read, "I go through an eighth a day," I was like god damn son! Now tokersmoker makes a shit ton of sense lol.

Also I was thinking about what you said about moving the smaller plants to the "hot spot." Thats kind of how it was before I moved my two strongest ladies under it. I would do that if I only had two small plants, and 4 strong ones. And I kind of have a plan the way it is, that being getting my two strongest ladies to finish as quick as possible, harvest those two, then move the 4 smaller ones in and let them finish in their own time. Not that i dont understand what your saying, Im just chomping at the bit to get these bitches finished up. Its been almost 6 months since i started this project and im just sick of not having any smoke... Grats on the free lights btw homie! Oh and for smell, you might wanna try those ONA Gel deodorizer I posted a pic of a few posts back. Like I said, I dont have a carbon filter. But I placed the gel pack in between my buckets, and I cant smell a damn thing! Even when Im literally only feets away!

Also crave. Im pretty sure I have a batwing reflector. Ill post a pic and let me know if it is a batwing, or if your talking of some other type of reflector.

Oh and holy shit are the ladies starting to use a shit ton of water and nutes! They going through like a gallon of water a week and about 50 ppm of nutes every 2-3 days! When you guys talk about flushing the last week, are you saying I need to just not add nutes that week? Or completely flushing all nutes and running pure water? Not sure how I would be able to do the latter... Not sure if I would have a way of completely removing all the water from each bucket without removing each lady individually, and physically pouring out each bucket... Maybe I could crack each lid, and run a siphon line down into the buckets and draining them that way and flush the res as well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BUBBLE-ICE-...1195041?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item3a61570121

Oh and speaking of bubble bags... These are the bags I plan on picking up. Theyre fairly cheap and prolly wont last quite as long as authentic bubble bags, but they are a third the price of em. I noticed them in a video where the guy had both these and the authentic bubble bags, and he said he couldnt notice a difference. They should last me long enough till I decide whether or not I want to buy some authentic ones. Well see.

 

[tokersmoke]

Ive heard the cheap bubble bags are okay for a couple runs.Everything looks great.Things always get exciting at this time.Like bringing a child up

 

[tokersmoke]

wtf? wheres the pic updates?

 

[marinemansf]

Hey man, sorry I havent posted in a week or so. Been so nice outside here finally so Ive been outside alot more lol.

Got some new pics... and the gals are soooooo close! And this is BY FAR the most dank and skunky shit i have ever smelled in my entire life... no lie! The other day I decided to take a very small sample (lower branch) just to see where its heading. Ran it through my vaporizer and even though it was still not completely dry.... TO THE MOON SON! And now were down to 9 days till the 62 day flowering time period is up! Im so god damn antsy! And there are soooo many trichromes, I actually had this thought the other day... "God damn, my plants look like they been doin coke!" Looks like christmas morning down there in the middle of summer!

Got some of the hairs turning from white to brown to red now. Im still trying to figure out exactly how to tell when everything will be at the peak of ripeness. Ive been told when the resin caps go from clear to milky color. Ive only seen clear so Im hopping it will be easily identifiable.

Crave, should I do a complete system flush of all the buckets and the rez and replace with fresh water for the final week?

Hope yall like these pics!

 

[tokersmoke]

looks like you still have some time to go.Hard to tell from the pics.Great progress very frosty

 

[marinemansf]

Hey bud. Yeah I went back and took some better pics. The lights really throw the color off, but heres some I took using an LED light and cranked the lights way down. In these you can make out the little bud hairs better I think. I think about 9 days is right about spot on for where they are, dont you?

 

[tokersmoke]

yea its hard under the hps light.anywho they look great and they should be done in about 9 days.Great work VERY FROSTY.

 

[cravin morehead]

hey guys! been a while. looking good marine!! get yourself a jewlers loupe 30x or so, or a magnifying lens and wait until you see most trichomes are cloudy and a few trichomes turning amber. IMO, that is the peak of readiness. as for the last week, i just stop adding nutes to the res at around 2 weeks left. let the plants eat up whats left in the solution. your plants leaves should start fading to a yellowish color then start getting some fall colors. this is a good sign that they are ridding themselves of built up nutes. then for next round just starting adding nutes again. for you it will be a bit different though. only because you will be revising your system, then refilling. good job bro, be patient and you will be rewarded kindly...

cm

 

[marinemansf]

So since I got only a few days left and didnt start the flush 2 weeks before harvest, I just diluted the rez a little with 5 gals of fresh water and hopefully that will be enough to give everything a good flush. I really cant wait to start the next the next round and get my rework finished up with a good tent. I really feel like light distribution is currently my #1 hindrance to getting the results im looking for, and I think the tent will work wonders. I got a few bag seeds that I popped about a week ago. So ill have something to clone once everything is set for the next run. Something keeps bringing me back to wanting to go with Northern Lights. First and still favorite stone. What is yalls favorite day strain? Something that you can wake and bake and still get shit done on.

Gonna pick up a jewlers loop tomorrow so I can keep an eye on the trich progress. I also feel like its going to be a more than one day harvest, because of the mentioned light distribution. But I feel like i did pretty good for my first time. I see where I could do things better and with those fixes, feel like the next round will only get exponentially better. Thank you guys a fuckton, you two helped me so much throughout this process, and prolly saved me tons of time and money. So again, Thank you.

 

[tokersmoke]

I got alot on my hands as well..

 

[marinemansf]

Dog, those look pretty as hell! What strain?

I hope to start the harvest on thursday. Im pretty sure my two biggest ladies main colas should be ready then. That will at least give me a chance to practice everything while the other 4 finish up.

 

[tokersmoke]

a majority of them are the doctor from ghs.there are some blue dot and some blu cheese thrown in the mix as well.Trimming can be a task.But its all worth it in the end. i will be harvesting the blue dot this friday myself.

 

[marinemansf]

So I got a problem guys. Today is the 62 day mark for flowering, but the buds dont look fully formed yet. They look like they are still forming. Now the question is, should I let them keep forming? If I do that will the trichromes go to shit? Not sure if I should just cut today and just start on the next round.

 

[sensibuds]

Looking good!

 

[tokersmoke]

I would get a jewelers loupe and examine the trichs.

 

[marinemansf]

I did pick up a 40x jewelers loupe. The trichs are looking good. Theyre big, but do look like they are about to pop. Also they are now illumining with bring light on em. Not sure if i should cut my losses and cut this crop and start anew. Or let em keep going. Also my largest lady has started to slightly turn purple! Not sure if thats what white widow does when its getting close to being ready, or IS ready. Lights just turned off so Ill snap a few pics in the morning to show you what i mean.

 

[marinemansf]

Ok, so I decided this morning to give the ladies at least another 2 weeks to a month. I think 62 days was some misinformation. Did some digging about the widow, and came up with around 10 weeks. Either way here are some new pics. Also I feel like the purple coming out, means its not ready, but getting close. Cant wait to see the purple color to take over, will be beautiful. I LOVE ME SOME PURPLE WEED SON! lol