4x4 Tent V-Scrog HPS/LED, AK48, Plush Berry

[jimmyd42]

Greetings from Seattle

Goal of this Journal
Showcase a mixed LED/HPS Grow with affordable TOPLEDGROWLIGHT UFOs 180w (draw 120w)
The greatest expectations are in Terpene content, the flowers should be a lot more tasty and smelly with the LEDS. Together with two super tasty strains, Cherry AK and Plush Berry, the results should be a special treat ;-)

Index
Update 1) Powdery Mildew, Outlook, Timelapse
Update 2) Return of the Powdery Mildew and Factsheet
Update 3) Actinovate Fungizide Product Review, Light Schematics, Details about the Screen/Scrog
Update 4) The UFO LEDs are in the tent! Picture update
Update 5) Pictures, Powdery Mildes, Gray Slime Algae


Strains
TGA Plush Berry
Nirvana AK48 (Cherry and some other mixed phenos)

They have been vegging for around 2 months now and are around 2 feet tall, now scrogged.

Setup
4x4 Tent
Scrog Screen
4x 180w UFO LED Growlights
( See specs here: http://www.topledgrowlight.com/led-grow-light-60x3w.html )
600w HPS for full spectrum light
Coco with Tropf Blumat Autowatering

Full Tent Picture

This picture is from today:

The LED Lamps are still on the way but should arrive in time.

This grow is conforming to regulations of WA Medical Marijuana Laws.

So long

 

[Oti$]

I'd try to fill your about 3/4 the way full and weave the tops into the trellis Avery couple days until towards the end of stretch. I've done a few scrogs, they are a bit of work but very rewarding come harvest. Cool grow!

 

[Oti$]

I just noticed you are using blumats...i love my blumats. I run a few different water delivery systems, and once dialed, the blumsts seem to be the most trouble free. Can't wait to watch this one unfold.

 

[Oti$]

Is your 600 watt hung vertically?

 

[jimmyd42]

Is your 600 watt hung vertically?

No, the lamp is just in a normal cooltube casing with reflector.

Will post some pictures as soon as the UFOs are in the tent.

 

[jimmyd42]

Update 1)

Powdery Mildew

Sadly the plants got some powdery mildew on 5-6 leaves. Their first two treatments with SM-90, which contains a sulfur component, didn't show too much effect but contained it a little. The PM kept coming back.

Having the PM spread in flower is no option, so the next strategy was a bit more radical. Most of the leaves went off, which should also help with the scrog and yield, but I guess they lost around 10 days of growth. The humidity was lowered drastically to 30-40% and the circulation fan was turned off to stop spreading spores for 2 days. The nutrient supply was lowered, as this is also a factor which helps PM to grow. A microorganism was placed on the remaining plants, the product is called Actinovate at double dose, which seems to be a more appropriate dosage for PM. The colonies are well visible on the plants and there was no more PM around for 3 days now.

The SM-90 seems to be very useful anyway, but for PM its probably better used to prevent PM to settle in first place. Actinovate seems to be better suited for an active infestation.

Outlook

The plants should be ready to flower in around 5-10 days. The LEDs will arrive soon and go in on day 1 of flower.

Timelapse

A timelapse of the last days. You can see the blumats working and the plants recover from trimming the large leaves.

So long

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Update 1)

Powdery Mildew

Sadly the plants got some powdery mildew on 5-6 leaves. Their first two treatments with SM-90, which contains a sulfur component, didn't show too much effect but contained it a little. The PM kept coming back.

Having the PM spread in flower is no option, so the next strategy was a bit more radical. Most of the leaves went off, which should also help with the scrog and yield, but I guess they lost around 10 days of growth. The humidity was lowered drastically to 30-40% and the circulation fan was turned off to stop spreading spores for 2 days. The nutrient supply was lowered, as this is also a factor which helps PM to grow. A microorganism was placed on the remaining plants, the product is called Actinovate at double dose, which seems to be a more appropriate dosage for PM. The colonies are well visible on the plants and there was no more PM around for 3 days now.

Outlook

The plants should be ready to flower in around 5-10 days. The LEDs will arrive soon and go in on day 1 of flower.

Timelapse

A timelapse of the last days. You can see the blumats working and the plants recover from trimming the large leaves.

View Image

So long

Are u trying to stay organic? If not, before flower eagle 20 which is potent myclobutinol is the best thing out there. Smells like straight fuel or kerosene though.

Also if u can exhaust ur room twice a minute with upward air flow u can run humidity in the 70%'s, and pm cant take hold because of the airflow.

 

[jimmyd42]

Yeah, I read alot about eagle 20 and learned that it's something you do not want to use near people. (except when they wear full pesticide suits)

I know a lot of dispensaries use it and that is just another reason not to buy there, esp. in the crappy Seattle area Dispensaries that sell you literally anything that is green as weed.

There is no doubt that that stuff is highly toxic and can cause cancer. U can and many have gotten seriously sick from it. 100% nontoxic pesticides are just as good usually at doing the job and well, nontoxic to humans. yay. Health is not optional.

Good tip on the airflow, thanks!

 

[jimmyd42]

Update 2)

Return of the Powdery Mildew

The last days we had heavy rain in the NW, the humidity in the tent went up to over 40% and back is the PM. Oh well.

I took some time to research Powdery Mildew and was shocked about all the wrong information that is spread in US forums. Seems like people think this fungus is somehow systemic and lives "inside" the plant. But is it really that way? Let's look at the facts:

"The Mycel of Powdery Mildew grows on top of it's hosts plant parts. The mildew extends haustorias into the epidermiscells of the hostplant and leeches nutrients from the host. Powdery Mildew is a obligate parasite, the mildew must grow on a live host plant."

The title says: Germination Konidio- and Ascospores on a leaf

Model of an Infection of Powdery Mildew on a leaf-surface

Source: http://www.hortipendium.de/Echter_Mehltau

Powdery Mildew does extend into the plant leaves, but only with a "nutrient vacuum", the actual fungus and the spores live on top of the plant leaves.

Now on to the reason why people think it is systemic: The mildew is able to produce millions of spores that spread all over the environment. The spores hide everywhere. While it seems that the infection is coming from inside the plants, it is actually "just" a contaminated environment.

So far, so good! It looks like this stuff can be treated with sulphur, H2O2 and a few different microorganisms.

Did anyone ever actually kill PM and completely remove it from an indoor growroom while retaining the plants?

I am still considering restarting the grow while it is possible.

So long

 

[Marlo]

No, the lamp is just in a normal cooltube casing with reflector.

This looks great Jimmy. Very interested to see how things turn out on this one. Herbalizor did a similar scrog a few years ago with SSSDH. Yours goes up further on the sides tho. Should be very rewarding. Don't be in a rush to flip.

Keeping it 100 tho, its not a V-scrog without a vert lamp. But its a bitchin setup bro.

Good luck!

 

[jimmyd42]

Hey Marlo, thanks for checking by! I have read your posts and journals many times and they have inspired me to try vertical growing as well as some other experiments!

Thanks for your input on the scrog timing, when do you think should I switch? When 3/4 is full?

 

[Marlo]

Hard to say. I don't have any experience with those strains, or LED's.
But I would always err to the side of more veg. When scrog'n, its a better to over veg, than under veg. You can always train and prune (to an extent)...but you can't fill in an empty canopy. So unless you are expecting a major stretch, I'd go at least 3/4 full. At least.

Sorry to hear abt the pm issues

 

[jimmyd42]

Oh, mildew, where are thou?

Just a small update in between, the leaves look like a mess from the actinovate fungizide. It looks like microbes have settled on the leaves and the microbe film looks like white transparent spots (think of waterdrop marks with lots of calc residue) compared to PM which looks like a white solid or white powdery spot.

I can't really tell if there is any PM in the tent right now or I just can't see any. Should probably apply another round of Actinovate.

So long

 

[jimmyd42]

Actinovate Review

Actinovate AG is a biofungicide that effectively protects and controls many common foliar and soil-borne diseases found in outdoor crops. Actinovate AG is based on the patented, beneficial bacteria, Streptomyces lydicus WYEC 108. This powerful microbe is 100% water-soluble and a great tool for disease resistance management. Actinovate AG is also labeled as a soil drench application for root decay diseases such as Pythium, Phytophthora, Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and more.

Actinovate against the Powdery Mildew seems to have good results. For PM it is suggested to double dose Actinovate. You can see the white microbe film on the leaves. They were effective for the first 4 days after application, afterwards the PM came back, mostly on new leaves in badly ventilated parts of the growroom.

I think Actinovate is a good product to keep PM in control, and it's nontoxic and harmless even on harvest day. The problem I see with Actinovate is, the manual says it should be applied every 7 days, this is WAY too long for PM. The product should be applied according to the life cycle of PM (48h) up to max. 3 days. You want to make sure you cover all the new growth on your plants, because that is exactly were the PM will reestablish in your garden and produce new spores in 48h.

From what I learned about PM, the actual fungus is relatively easy to fight. The real problem you are fighting with PM is the spore contamination.

From my understanding, it would be more effective to use a product that kills spores and stops them from settling on your leaves, as the actual fungus is relatively easy to wash off the leaves or to kill it with a fungicide. You want to make sure you cover all new growth every 48h.

Again, I think the #1 issue you are fighting with PM is your environment, and once it has settled, you can only try to remove as many spores as possible from your environment and need to effectively stop new spores from being produced. The PM keeps coming back directly bellow the circulation fan, were the least air movement is.

My next product review will be about Greencure, which kills spores, fungus and seals the leaves to protect them against spores.

Let me know what you guys and girls think about PM, Actinovate and Greencure!

Light Setup

Here is the schema to light the screen:

The HPS 600w light hits a full 180 degrees bellow it and it lights up the screen pretty equally.

The 180w UFO Leds will be around the 4 corners of the HPS. They will be hung up so they shine the opposite site of the screen. Should give a more even spread and will light a larger surface evenly, but that is up to a bit of experimentation. Photos will follow later.

About the screen: its 120cm (4 feet) wide. The length is 180cm/6 feet.

That's a total of 2.16m2/24sqft and 50% more than the 4x4 space of the tent.

The lamp setup has 1450w per label and draws 600+120x4 = 1080 watt

The watts per sqft will be around 60.5, a little less than a 4x4 with a 1000 hps (62 watts per sqft) and closer to the recommended 50 watt per sqft

That all depends ofc how well the plant surface retains the shape of the screen during growth.

The same screen was used as a vertical screen before and was just rolled out and hung up in the tent. I have to say, hanging it into the tent like that seems to be so much more practical than vertical growing with a center screen. You can see the plant surface and later the buds and actually reach every spot of the screen easily while in the vertical grow, everything was hidden.

So long

 

["HEMPEROR"]

hey bro i hope you dont mind me following along i love scroging and am just in the middle disinfecting 3 rooms that have had pm infected plants in! its a little late now here in the uk but would love to chat with you more about this and your grow methods another time! subbed and atb.....hemp

 

[jimmyd42]

Welcome to icmag, Hemperor

 

["HEMPEROR"]

Thanks mate ive actually been here a few years but using my old avi!
atb with the grow mate i love scroggs and its the only weay i grow these days! ttys bro......

 

[jimmyd42]

The PM is back again.

Any good ideas on what to do? Did anyone ever successfully remove PM from an indoor growroom and how did you do it?

 

[jimmyd42]

The LED lamps make a beautiful light

Setup should be finished soon.

 

[jimmyd42]

The LED Lights are in the tent!

And boy, do they look beautiful! The plants reacted very well, too! The canopy really filled in the last days.

4x UFO Led only

LED + MH closeup

Bellow the screen, this needs a good trim before flowering

The blumats are of great help but they aren't perfect