Greenops goes pheno hunting: 30 + beans under 600w, Coco DTW

[greenops]

I've been doing scrogs with fem seeds ever since i started. This winter however, i'm gona try some of the seeds only available in reg form.

In short, my plan is to fill my Darkroom 120 tent (4 x 4) with 30 plus plants, give em a short veg, flip, get rid of the males and finish the fems.
However, during veg, i'll take clones which will be vegged in a Darkroom 100 tent.
Once the moms are finished, ill choose the clones of the top phenos then scrog them in the DR120 tent for a 2nd run.

The line up is:
Deadhead OG x 7
Cheeseberry Haze X 7
Chucky's Bride x 8
Vortex x 3
Cheeto Kush x 7
Pineapple Diesel x 5
Cheese (fem. Freebie) x 1
Blue Dream (fem. Freebie) x 1

That's a total of 39 beans that i germinated in Eazy Plug trays.

Setup:

Dark room 120 tent
400/600w HPS, dual spectrum, air cooled hood
Coco, DTW system
Canna Coco A n B and some Hesi Coco extras
1 gal final pots

Darkroom 100 tent
110w Fluros / 250 HPS Cooltube,
Plagron soil mix / Coco


A lot of things i'll be doing this year will be new to me so help from my fellow growers will be much appreciated.

And so it begins...

 

[greenops]

Day 4 - since sprout of the first 9

So the first 9 seedlings popped out 4 days ago. I hooked up the 110w Fluros first and just switched to 400w HPS today. Meanwhile 31 seeds out of 39 sprouted. Unfortunately, 3 out of 7 Deadhead OGs still have not germinated and thats the strain i'm most excited about.

It's still not getting cold around here so the temperature in the tent is quite high at 27.5C.

At least for another week, the pots will be watered every other day with a weak solution of Canna A / B, Hesi Root Complex which i got left over from my last grow. EC 0.7, pH 5.9. Note that my tap water comes out at 0.6 EC.
I'm planning to feed daily once they get into veg mode then eventually multiple feeds per day.

 

[Gardening Angel]

Hey greenops,

I'm planning something similar in the near future I'll be staying tuned

The deadhead og has interested me for a while now too

Thanks
GA

 

[shaggyballs]

Gotta see this.

 

[greenops]

Glad to have u guys on board! Gonna be a long ride...

This is the final count, the germ rate per strain is as follows:

Deadhead OG 4 out of 7
Cheeseberry Haze 7 out of 7
Chucky's Bride 7 out of 7
Cheeto Kush 7 out of 7
Vortex 3 out of 3
Pineapple Diesel 3 out of 5
Cheese (Fem Freebie) 1 out of 1

So that's 32 seedlings to take care of for now. I'm disappointed that 3 Deadhead OGs didn't make it, fingers crossed that the 4 i got will turn out to be some fine ladies!

I got some early heat problems, temps reaching 30C at some parts of the tent.
But I don't wanna raise the lamp anymore because the seedlings are already stretching.
Hope the cooler temperatures this fall will take care of this.

Also I'm trying to figure out why it takes so long to run the pump until i the drain comes out of the bottom.
In my last grow, I used the same pump, and watered 9 pots (2 gal / 6.5l) in less than a minute. Now I got these 32 starter pots that are prolly just around 16 oz and ran the pump for like 5 min until drain came out of some pots.
I don't know if the drippers have something to do with it, because in my last grow i didn't use drippers. I just had these tiny tubes where the water came pouring in to the pots. These drippers, however, literally drip drops.. dunno if it's suppose to be that slow.

Any ideas?


New pictures will be included in my next updated prolly this weekend.

 

[stevewinthrop]

Drippers are rated in gallons per hour, or liters per hour. Do you know what volume you bought? Drippers are meant to be ran either constantly or for longer periods. If you want to just flood your pots every day you should get drip rings or just do what you did last time.

 

[greenops]

Steve.. yea u right. Don't know what volume i bought but these drippers def slow down the flow. I adjusted the timer to 6min....will see how it goes. If they dont like it i still can cut the drippers to speed up the feed.

 

[greenops]

Day 13 18/6

I've been feeding the plants every other day, then started to do it daily the past 3 days.
I already see some distinct grow pattern in strains like the Vortex. All 3 of them are kinda lanky, all of em got small leaves and their color is very light, almost pale.
The Deadhead OGs grow faster, are more sturdy.

I started them with a light feed of 0.7 EC. My tap alone is already 0.6 EC. The fuck, last year it was only 0.4 EC. pH always around 5.8.
Gradually increasing and now, they've been receiving 18ml Coco A, 18ml Coco B, 20 ml Hesi Root Complex at a pH of 5.8 and EC of 1.3. After I mix that all together I add Ata Clean, Atami's version of Drip Clean, to complete the brew.

Today I sprayed them with a solution of 1 part milk to 9 parts water for PM prevention.

Temps, lights on 27.5 - 30 C, rH 50%.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

1. Picture:

6 Cheeto Kush
7 Cheeseberry Haze
7 Chucky's Bride
4 Deadhead OG --- 1 Cheese fem
3 Vortex --- 3 Pineapple Diesel
Bottom

xxxxx

 

[greenops]

Day 20, 18/6

I started feeding them twice a day, giving them a weaker dose of 1.0 EC.
Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon transplanting the babies from their starter pots to their final 1 gal pot. I really hope they dont end up getting rootbound. I've read that smaller pots can be productive in coco as well. I prolly have to treat it like hydro, giving em multiple feeds per day.

The pots are now all spread out under the light, the leaves already touching one another.
It will get packed, i can't wait to kill the males.

All of the 31 are looking good so far. One Deadhead OG is kind of a mutant, as it only grew once single fan leave on its 3 node.
The 3 Vortex phenos look very similar. Other strains show a little more variety.

I measured the vertical space and found out that i can't let the plants go much taller than 70 cm / 28 inches vertically. I can't flip too soon because first they have to grow side branches long enough to be taken as a cutting.

I'm also thinking about a way to train the plants to avoid reaching the light. Should I top the taller plants before flowering?
I'm def going to fix a net up there (with bigger spacing than a scrog net), for support and also for some weaving.

Does anyone have experience in using neem oil? I got a small bottle in my arsenal and i'm thinking of using it for PM prevention and other pests. But there are a few people claiming its harmful to the health so i dunno...


Pictures:

1. From the top
2. From below
3. Vortex
4. Deadhead OG
5. Cheeseberry Haze

 

[Gardening Angel]

Hey greenops

Thanks for the update

GA

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Hi, that drip system looks like a crazy mess lol. If ur using a small pump those drippers tend to clog pretty easy due to low pressure, biofilm, debris in res, etc... I ditched mine and use open end tube, or rings, depending on how big a pot.

Once ur roots are filled in multi water.

Neem, good stuff, stinks, don't use on flowers. I wouldn't use it on seedlings either. Make sure u don't mix it too strong. I like to use warm water, it emulsifies better. It can burn them.

U ask some interesting questions about training and cloning that I am currently dealing with. Some of my seedlings have ok branching while others have none. Mine got to 18" this way so I topped to 6 to 8" taking clones. But now I got some that will take forever to grow a new top. So what to do, I think I am going to veg for a week a flower. The ones that regrow new tops and stretch quicker I will employ stem twisting and deleafing of the top shoots to slow vert growth a bit and keep equal canopy with the non branching plants. Idk, will be interesting as its my first time with aseed project like this. Any way, gl

 

[BushBurner]

great looking set up you got some nice strains there all the best with yer grow...Atb bb

 

[greenops]

Hey meds, u right. Ill get rid of the drippers soon. I just gotta buy some tube holders first.

 

[greenops]

Day 24

Just a quick update.. the plants are between 18 to 24 days old now.
The growth rate keeps on increasing everyday. They are starting to fill out the available space so i gotta flip soon.

The problem is I have to wait til I can take clones from them.

Does anyone think it's possible to take those side branches as cuttings in 5 to 6 days? Thats when i plan to flip the switch...

Also, as its getting more crowded, will it make sense to remove about 5 plants to create more space between them? Or should all go well when i keep all 31 plants until they show sex in probably 20 - 23 days from now?

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Hey meds, u right. Ill get rid of the drippers soon. I just gotta buy some tube holders first.

Hey bro, I like the 6" heavy duty steaks for holding 1/4" tube. Also if u wanna save a few bucks u can drill a hole in the side towards the top of ur pots to slide the drip tube thru, just make it snug so it holds them in place so they don't slide out on ya.

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Day 24

Just a quick update.. the plants are between 18 to 24 days old now.
The growth rate keeps on increasing everyday. They are starting to fill out the available space so i gotta flip soon.

The problem is I have to wait til I can take clones from them.

Does anyone think it's possible to take those side branches as cuttings in 5 to 6 days? Thats when i plan to flip the switch...

Also, as its getting more crowded, will it make sense to remove about 5 plants to create more space between them? Or should all go well when i keep all 31 plants until they show sex in probably 20 - 23 days from now?

Just my opinions here but u prob can get some decent clones like u want, and also u can go up to a week or 2 in flower and take clones without too much flowering/revegging probs.

I would flower them all just pulling a few select fan leaves that overlap causing humidity pockets and mold. Then u can get ur males out and the ladies will have room to breathe.

 

[greenops]

Thanks for your tips meds.

I was thinking about taking the clones after the switch. It would be ideal, however when i did some reasearch into it I've read that it can stress the clones, maybe cause them to go hermie later etc... not sure tho, some say yes, some say no. Have u done it many times before to no ill effect?

Yea i should prolly keep all 31 plants until they show sex and just defoliate a bit.

Would u top the plants just couple days before flowering? I know it's best to continue vegging couple weeks after topping, but i'm worried that i will go out of vertical space if i don't.

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Thanks for your tips meds.

I was thinking about taking the clones after the switch. It would be ideal, however when i did some reasearch into it I've read that it can stress the clones, maybe cause them to go hermie later etc... not sure tho, some say yes, some say no. Have u done it many times before to no ill effect?

Yea i should prolly keep all 31 plants until they show sex and just defoliate a bit.

Would u top the plants just couple days before flowering? I know it's best to continue vegging couple weeks after topping, but i'm worried that i will go out of vertical space if i don't.

To be clear I have not pheno hunted before now, but I have taken plenty of clones in flower and it will not cause hermy or I should say it never has for me out of dozens of strains. If it does hermie then its in the genetics and u prob don't want it then.

I hate topping right before the flip, usually wait till they have recovered, around 2 weeks but really when u see new dominate fast growing tops. But for me personally on my project I chose to not worry so much about it cause I aint doing the hunt for yield. But we wont be able to see their true growth structure if they aren't growing a new healthy top yet. So im gonna live with that so I can get this pheno hunt rolling to fit in the room I have designated for it. I know I will have small tops because of my cloning and flipping but I can still smoke test and chose my winners to run again.

That's the way I look at it for my situation.

Sounds like ur situation is like mine. space is a commodity lol

 

[greenops]

I'm not doing this round for the yield either. The objective is to harvest every female from this crop. After that ill try to maximize the yield by scrogging the clones.

Alright, I'll go ahead and top all tall plants from this batch then let them recover 4 to 5 days until switching to 12/12.

Do u keep a journal on your project?

 

[Miraculous Meds]

I'm not doing this round for the yield either. The objective is to harvest every female from this crop. After that ill try to maximize the yield by scrogging the clones.

Alright, I'll go ahead and top all tall plants from this batch then let them recover 4 to 5 days until switching to 12/12.

Do u keep a journal on your project?

Ive got a thread going called pheno hunting strategies where im hashing out plans, but no pics or plant descriptions yet. Im new to the site and wanted to get me feet wet. So I will be starting a more detailed one soon. Feel free to check that thread out though there has been lots of good tips for this kind of thing. Feel free to ask or post away ideas in it too.