Kweku Ananse
Member
Hey there everyone!
Really looking forward to become part of the community! I've been learning a lot during my first grow, especially by reading forums like the one here at icmag.com. I've realized there is a lot of knowledge in this community and can't wait to learn all I can, and to contribute what I've learned to the next generations! I am at your mercy.
First let me start on the story of how I became a medical marijuana grower.
One day my roommate was feeling down, had just lost his job or something, can't recall. My girlfriend had recently gotten her medical card, as did my roommate, so she brought him home a plant to grow.
A little Grandaddy OG clone from the dispensary down the street. She sat in the window, getting sun for most of the day. Otherwise she sat in the living room incandescents until we got an 8 x 2ft T5 fixture, 192w.
With summer approaching, and some kind of subliminal urging vibrations emanating from the clones behind the counter, she couldn't help herself from picking up a few more varieties.
Currently we have [2] Chemdawg '91, an Ak-47, one Cookies Kush, the aforementioned G. OG, one plant of Mendo Purps (and another to be cut up into clones once more lighting arrives - really excited about the Black Dog LED's hitting my doorstep this week
), something called Charlie Cooper - let me know if you have any information on this strain, my search has resulted in nothing - and a lone Purple Berry.
Besides the Purple Berry being put into a plastic pot, the others were put into fabric SmartPots, either 2gal, or 5gal. The Chemdawg '91, Mendo Purps, and Charlie Cooper are all in 5gal, the rest, including a now transplanted Purple Berry, are in the 2gal. The original "plan" with the first one or two plants was to treat them differently without much direction, and experiment with differing "[growing] methods." We have an approximate 50/50 soil-coco mix, and have been overdosed and flushed about three times. I think I finally understand the significance of EASING in the nutrient regiment. LOL! I ended up researching a lot, due to this overwhelming drive to preserve these plants, and the interest and investment of the others pales in comparison to mine, thus I have become the gardener.
I am researching in books by Ed Rosenthal, Jorge Cervantez, and Greg Green. All are very informative and useful in their own ways, but I need a real life thread to learn this art. I'll try to sum up the first month Ive had with these plants.
Once all the plants were transplanted and ready to go under the T5 fixture, I learned more light was needed in the 3x3 closet to truly utilize the rest of the requirements (water, co2, etc.). I added in [14] 23w CFLs in bowl reflectors, which pushed my temps up to ~81.5º. At this point the SmartPots sat on saucers, and I admittedly was watering them too much, and the water would be in the roots for much longer than 20min.... I am ashamed. Yet my only excuse was naïveté, which I have since amended and improved. Now the plants sit on a flood tray inside a 4x4 grow tent under the T5 and 14 CFLs. Before this transition, I learned first hand just what a spider mite was, and what it can do. I caught them way early, found maybe 20 live crawlers, and 50-60 eggs. I did a week of SM-90, 3day treatments and have added it to the reservoir, 5ml/gal, with DripClean, 1ml/gal. They seem to have been eliminated. I plan on instituting a weekly SM-90 foliar treatment. I like the transpiration kick it gives.
I did some [not-so-]LST with them, broke a few branches when the spider mites had sucked all the juices out, leaving brittle plants, and like I mentioned before, I burned them a couple times with my lack of understanding of the extreme sensitivity they exhibit at the beginning of the fertilizer start. I have been 'soft' flushing them with a 250ppm (700 Truncheon scale) CalMag 2-0-0 by Botanicare, since my water comes out of the tap at 40ppm. So this is a buffer, and a bit of micronutrient additive, since I'm growing as if my mix were pure coco. Which it isn't. Which has probably been really messing with me this whole time. As well as different sized containers, different strains being treated the same, in the same tray, on the same nutrient regiment, etc. I know all these things will get better (dialed in) when I've got everything consistent to the clone.
Anyway, I've been giving this water from the top, to dissolve any salts that may be locked up in there, since I plan to start feeding from the bottom in an ebb and flow system. I've been collecting this water, and have added ~500ppm Canna Coco A/B Nutrients/Cannazym/Rhizotonic. I've been recirculating this, after re-pH to 6.2. In my previous flushes, I noticed quite the rise in pH from when I put the water in, to when it came out the bottom. It would appear I have finally "balanced" my water/nutrient pH, with the pH of the coco/soil mix. I feel like I'm ready to add a pump into the equation and monitor pH a couple times daily, with a weekly refresh of water and nutrients. I've been flooding the tray to about 1.5", slowly increasing my volume of flood water with the daily 'soft' flush, which is also subtly lowering ppm of the reservoir over time, the same way adding make-up volume would. I'm just slowly reaching the proper flood height of coco, as recommended by Ed, 3" up a 10" tall pot. I have emergency flood tubing in case the pump fails to shut off, or the other drain gets plugged, I check on the plants regularly, so this would be a short term problem with no long term health risks as long as I get there before the roots drown. At least I won't have a mess on top of it.
This sits on a wood frame over a plastic reservoir. I plan to put an airstone in the reservoir, in the event that the drains fail, and the plants sit in water, at least it would be well oxygenated, essentially turning my ebb and flow into a momentary NFT! LOL! The pump on a timer, which would deliver water at just the proper calculated time based on drying/transpiration, etc.
I believe everything has been summed up, so to speak, and a few shots of the grow space will be added at the end of this post. I will add more detailed photos of each plant in subsequent posts. Please offer any advice you can give! I want to become a master grower and breeder, and I'll never get there acting like a know-it-all. Please, your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
-Kweku
In the photo above you can see the entire tent system, stand, tray, plants, lights and fan. The tent is wide open because the humidity is too high when the evening temperature drops.
Here you can see the system's undercarriage. At the moment I have a pail to grab runoff water, since I'm not quite ready to recirculate. Things I still need: airstone & aquarium heater. Pretty sure my root temps are too cold considering my current canopy temps are between 70-73º. water is probably close to 60º. Note to self: measure reservoir temperature.
These are the CFLs, they only hold to the ceiling, otherwise they would be closer. Currently brainstorming some kind of 'scaffolding' for side lighting/air circulation.
Really looking forward to become part of the community! I've been learning a lot during my first grow, especially by reading forums like the one here at icmag.com. I've realized there is a lot of knowledge in this community and can't wait to learn all I can, and to contribute what I've learned to the next generations! I am at your mercy.
First let me start on the story of how I became a medical marijuana grower.
One day my roommate was feeling down, had just lost his job or something, can't recall. My girlfriend had recently gotten her medical card, as did my roommate, so she brought him home a plant to grow.
A little Grandaddy OG clone from the dispensary down the street. She sat in the window, getting sun for most of the day. Otherwise she sat in the living room incandescents until we got an 8 x 2ft T5 fixture, 192w.
With summer approaching, and some kind of subliminal urging vibrations emanating from the clones behind the counter, she couldn't help herself from picking up a few more varieties.
Currently we have [2] Chemdawg '91, an Ak-47, one Cookies Kush, the aforementioned G. OG, one plant of Mendo Purps (and another to be cut up into clones once more lighting arrives - really excited about the Black Dog LED's hitting my doorstep this week
), something called Charlie Cooper - let me know if you have any information on this strain, my search has resulted in nothing - and a lone Purple Berry.Besides the Purple Berry being put into a plastic pot, the others were put into fabric SmartPots, either 2gal, or 5gal. The Chemdawg '91, Mendo Purps, and Charlie Cooper are all in 5gal, the rest, including a now transplanted Purple Berry, are in the 2gal. The original "plan" with the first one or two plants was to treat them differently without much direction, and experiment with differing "[growing] methods." We have an approximate 50/50 soil-coco mix, and have been overdosed and flushed about three times. I think I finally understand the significance of EASING in the nutrient regiment. LOL! I ended up researching a lot, due to this overwhelming drive to preserve these plants, and the interest and investment of the others pales in comparison to mine, thus I have become the gardener.
I am researching in books by Ed Rosenthal, Jorge Cervantez, and Greg Green. All are very informative and useful in their own ways, but I need a real life thread to learn this art. I'll try to sum up the first month Ive had with these plants.
Once all the plants were transplanted and ready to go under the T5 fixture, I learned more light was needed in the 3x3 closet to truly utilize the rest of the requirements (water, co2, etc.). I added in [14] 23w CFLs in bowl reflectors, which pushed my temps up to ~81.5º. At this point the SmartPots sat on saucers, and I admittedly was watering them too much, and the water would be in the roots for much longer than 20min.... I am ashamed. Yet my only excuse was naïveté, which I have since amended and improved. Now the plants sit on a flood tray inside a 4x4 grow tent under the T5 and 14 CFLs. Before this transition, I learned first hand just what a spider mite was, and what it can do. I caught them way early, found maybe 20 live crawlers, and 50-60 eggs. I did a week of SM-90, 3day treatments and have added it to the reservoir, 5ml/gal, with DripClean, 1ml/gal. They seem to have been eliminated. I plan on instituting a weekly SM-90 foliar treatment. I like the transpiration kick it gives.
I did some [not-so-]LST with them, broke a few branches when the spider mites had sucked all the juices out, leaving brittle plants, and like I mentioned before, I burned them a couple times with my lack of understanding of the extreme sensitivity they exhibit at the beginning of the fertilizer start. I have been 'soft' flushing them with a 250ppm (700 Truncheon scale) CalMag 2-0-0 by Botanicare, since my water comes out of the tap at 40ppm. So this is a buffer, and a bit of micronutrient additive, since I'm growing as if my mix were pure coco. Which it isn't. Which has probably been really messing with me this whole time. As well as different sized containers, different strains being treated the same, in the same tray, on the same nutrient regiment, etc. I know all these things will get better (dialed in) when I've got everything consistent to the clone.
Anyway, I've been giving this water from the top, to dissolve any salts that may be locked up in there, since I plan to start feeding from the bottom in an ebb and flow system. I've been collecting this water, and have added ~500ppm Canna Coco A/B Nutrients/Cannazym/Rhizotonic. I've been recirculating this, after re-pH to 6.2. In my previous flushes, I noticed quite the rise in pH from when I put the water in, to when it came out the bottom. It would appear I have finally "balanced" my water/nutrient pH, with the pH of the coco/soil mix. I feel like I'm ready to add a pump into the equation and monitor pH a couple times daily, with a weekly refresh of water and nutrients. I've been flooding the tray to about 1.5", slowly increasing my volume of flood water with the daily 'soft' flush, which is also subtly lowering ppm of the reservoir over time, the same way adding make-up volume would. I'm just slowly reaching the proper flood height of coco, as recommended by Ed, 3" up a 10" tall pot. I have emergency flood tubing in case the pump fails to shut off, or the other drain gets plugged, I check on the plants regularly, so this would be a short term problem with no long term health risks as long as I get there before the roots drown. At least I won't have a mess on top of it.
This sits on a wood frame over a plastic reservoir. I plan to put an airstone in the reservoir, in the event that the drains fail, and the plants sit in water, at least it would be well oxygenated, essentially turning my ebb and flow into a momentary NFT! LOL! The pump on a timer, which would deliver water at just the proper calculated time based on drying/transpiration, etc.
I believe everything has been summed up, so to speak, and a few shots of the grow space will be added at the end of this post. I will add more detailed photos of each plant in subsequent posts. Please offer any advice you can give! I want to become a master grower and breeder, and I'll never get there acting like a know-it-all. Please, your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
-Kweku
In the photo above you can see the entire tent system, stand, tray, plants, lights and fan. The tent is wide open because the humidity is too high when the evening temperature drops.
Here you can see the system's undercarriage. At the moment I have a pail to grab runoff water, since I'm not quite ready to recirculate. Things I still need: airstone & aquarium heater. Pretty sure my root temps are too cold considering my current canopy temps are between 70-73º. water is probably close to 60º. Note to self: measure reservoir temperature.
These are the CFLs, they only hold to the ceiling, otherwise they would be closer. Currently brainstorming some kind of 'scaffolding' for side lighting/air circulation.
