Grow Lab: The quest for Infinite Resin

Table of Contents:
Quest 1
Status: Finished
Start: Page 1
End: https://tokecity.com/forums/showthread.php4?t=31785&page=14Page 6
Chronology: Post 85

Quest 2
Status In progress
Start: Page 5 Post 72
End:
Chronology:

====================

Day 1
Alright so with a little bit of lag time and relaxation I have finally started up my next quest! Their have been a few changes to the whole plan, but everything is running smoothly. So lets review and talk about the Equipment and Nutrients and other changes concerning Ventilation and Style. I had another quest on some other forums but I recently found this one and I like the community so I am going to post my journal here too.

Equipment Change:
Cool Sun reflector 6"(replaces Super Sun 2 reflector 6")
Gives off an even spread where ass the super sun gave off a more rectangular spread.
Sun Pulse 6.4k 400w PSMH(replaces 400w Hortilux HPS)
Sun Pulse 3k 600w PSMH(replaces 600w Hortilux HPS)
note: I don't own the 3k yet but I am purchasing soon before I start flowering.

Medium Change:
Roots Organic's Soil-less(replaces Roots Organic's soil)
I notice that it has a lot more perlite in the mix. It also seems to drain a lot faster. I am liking it so far.

Nutrient Change:
Soul Synthetics Soul grow, Soul bloom, Infinity, Peak, Big swell, amino aide, grow-n(replaces Roots Organics)
It actually contains a lot of organic ingredients contrary to the misleading name. I do admit that It does have some mineral nutrients in it some of witch are synthetically derived, but a good part of it is organically derived. I figured I would try out most of Aurora's products before I tried out a different brand.

Humega(humic acid as well as bacterial inoculant) Great stuff. Used it once before in my September harvest and it is priced a lot better then ancient amber. However I still have ancient amber left so I will use that as well.

Ventilation Change:
At first I had my light cooled separately with a booster fan. Then I had a scrubber with an inline fan exhausting my room outside. I had my fan sitting on top of my tent. It was somewhat ghetto and didn't look as good as I wanted. I have changed the Ventilation configuration. I light cool with my exhaust now and use my booster fan for active intake. I find this adds a much better cooling affect because the inline fan sucks air faster then the booster and the booster supply's cool air since it is active air intake now.

Container Change:
Before I use to start in my final container. I have recently heard it is better to work them up. Plus it is easy to over water in a larger container. I am starting in 3.4l pots. Then I plan on moving to 2 gal smart pots for flower.

So that's it for the changes.

=========================

Strain: Hindu skunk(9)
Medium: Roots Organics Soil-less
Pot size: 3.4l(plan to put then in 2 gal smart pots)
Nutrients: Soul Synthetics(misleading name, partially mineral based though)
Space: 4x4x7 grow tent with 3x3 tray.
Light: 6.4k Sun Pulse PSMH 40wW(veg) 3k Sun Pulse PSMH 600w(flower)

Day 1

First Watering:
note: all measurements are per gallon
200ppm cal mag
Liquid Karma: 6ml
Humega: 15ml(humic/bacterial inoculant)
Roots Oregonisms XL(bacterial/fungi inoculant)
Total: 400ppm or .8EC

So now for the pictures. Not much to show yet but here they are! hope you enjoy!
note: I have to add that all these photos are not taken with any white balance. This is the actual spectrum of the 6.4k Sun Pulse with out any editing or setting adjustment what so ever.
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Hey justiceman


That setup is looking mighty fine. Can I ask if those 2 lamps that were replaced were flowering lamps and why you switched to MH? I run MH for flower right now too, just curious as to why you switched if you did.

Also, why PSMH? Is that pulse start MH? Aren't all MH pulse start?

Nice temps!! How long after the lights on was that? You run your setup at night, day? Ambient temps?

OH ok I see here now, 400 for veg, 600 for flower. I like both HPS and MH for flower, I think they are both appropriate for different applications. I think you will enjoy the switch if you like tighter, seemingly more frosty buds.

That Hindu Skunk looks a little similar to a cut I'm growing out right now that I was gifted by a friend. She got it from a dispensary around here. My god is it sticky/smelly.

Those ladies are looking mighty fine, I can't wait to see updated pics!!!

Frozenguy
PS Have you used this config before? In terms of wattage, space, amount of plants, final container size? I'm starting a 600W grow soon and pondering if I should expand its sq footage.

nice and clean set up m8, wont be to long until you see some dankie nuggets and some good smoke

cheers,
red.

Very nice! Looks just like my set-ups!

redspaghetti said:

nice and clean set up m8, wont be to long until you see some dankie nuggets and some good smoke
cheers,
red.

Click to expand...

Indeed redspaghetti I cannot wait. Thanks for the comment!

Kcar said:

Very nice! Looks just like my set-ups!

Click to expand...

Thanks man. You running a 600w in a 4x4 as well?

Frozenguy said:

Can I ask if those 2 lamps that were replaced were flowering lamps and why you switched to MH? I run MH for flower right now too, just curious as to why you switched if you did.

Also, why PSMH? Is that pulse start MH? Aren't all MH pulse start?

Nice temps!! How long after the lights on was that? You run your setup at night, day? Ambient temps?

OH ok I see here now, 400 for veg, 600 for flower. I like both HPS and MH for flower, I think they are both appropriate for different applications. I think you will enjoy the switch if you like tighter, seemingly more frosty buds.

That Hindu Skunk looks a little similar to a cut I'm growing out right now that I was gifted by a friend. She got it from a dispensary around here. My god is it sticky/smelly.

Those ladies are looking mighty fine, I can't wait to see updated pics!!!

Frozenguy
PS Have you used this config before? In terms of wattage, space, amount of plants, final container size? I'm starting a 600W grow soon and pondering if I should expand its sq footage.

Click to expand...

Great reply frozen guy I love questions. Yes you are right. The last grow I used the same 4 x 4 tent with a 400w hps for veg and then a 600w hps for flower. I got about 11 ounces so it ended up being somewhere like .5175 grams per watt. Pretty decent yield but I have heard of people getting 1g per watt.

PSMH and MH are different. PSMH is a MH that has been improved upon. It burns brighter, longer, and has littler color shift. It runs at a higher frequency too so that it can be operated on digital ballasts without burning out prematurely.

I went with Sun Pulse because their lamps have certain Kelvin ratings specific to photoperiod. The 6.4k like a normal MH is good for veg(although normal MH are more like 7.2k) The 3k lamp gives off flowering light but it still has a lot of added blue in it. It is a really nice looking light much different from the orange glow of an HPS.

Sun Pulse claims that their lamps give off a spectrum much closer to the sun in terms of color temperature, and the fact they give off higher frequency light like the sun. If all goes according to theory I should technically see an increase in resin and yield since I am replicating the sun more effectively then with an HPS.

justiceman said:

Great reply frozen guy I love questions. Yes you are right. The last grow I used the same 4 x 4 tent with a 400w hps for veg and then a 600w hps for flower. I got about 11 ounces so it ended up being somewhere like .5175 grams per watt. Pretty decent yield but I have heard of people getting 1g per watt.

PSMH and MH are different. PSMH is a MH that has been improved upon. It burns brighter, longer, and has littler color shift. It runs at a higher frequency too so that it can be operated on digital ballasts without burning out prematurely.

I went with Sun Pulse because their lamps have certain Kelvin ratings specific to photoperiod. The 6.4k like a normal MH is good for veg(although normal MH are more like 7.2k) The 3k lamp gives off flowering light but it still has a lot of added blue in it. It is a really nice looking light much different from the orange glow of an HPS.

Sun Pulse claims that their lamps give off a spectrum much closer to the sun in terms of color temperature, and the fact they give off higher frequency light like the sun. If all goes according to theory I should technically see an increase in resin and yield since I am replicating the sun more effectively then with an HPS.

Click to expand...

Oh ok. Yeah I was a tad worried about using the normal MH bulbs that I used to use with these ballasts when I vegged, so I bought an Optilume bulb from sunleaves. I really don't think its a pulse start, but its 4000 K, which is better then the 5700 K, 6400 K bulbs I was running for veg hehe. I would love a 3000 K MH for flowering though. So do these run in HPS ballasts or standard MH ballasts?

Frozenguy said:

Oh ok. Yeah I was a tad worried about using the normal MH bulbs that I used to use with these ballasts when I vegged, so I bought an Optilume bulb from sunleaves. I really don't think its a pulse start, but its 4000 K, which is better then the 5700 K, 6400 K bulbs I was running for veg hehe. I would love a 3000 K MH for flowering though. So do these run in HPS ballasts or standard MH ballasts?

Click to expand...

i don't know what ballasts you have but you can only use MH on a MH probe start ballast. You can only use HPS on an HPS magnetic(cor and coil) ballast. You can buy Conversion MH for HPS magentic ballasts though. I believe the Optilume lamp is still an HPS. You can use MH and HPS on digital ballasts although they degrade the lamps faster then magnetics. The PSMH is designed to not be destroyed by the high frequency of digital ballast where ass a 60hz HPS doing 20,000hz instead of 60hz sounds stressful to the max.

Yes the PSMH from Sun Pulse run on HPS magnetic(cor and coil) ballasts as well as Digital ballasts, but it does NOT run on normal MH probe start ballasts. It states this on their FAQ 5th question from the top.
Sun Pulse

In one tent I do, in the other a 400w MH for vegging some plants that i'm going to clone. Here's a pic

justiceman said:

i don't know what ballasts you have but you can only use MH on a MH probe start ballast. You can only use HPS on an HPS magnetic(cor and coil) ballast. You can buy Conversion MH for HPS magentic ballasts though. I believe the Optilume lamp is still an HPS. You can use MH and HPS on digital ballasts although they degrade the lamps faster then magnetics. The PSMH is designed to not be destroyed by the high frequency of digital ballast where ass a 60hz HPS doing 20,000hz instead of 60hz sounds stressful to the max.

Yes the PSMH from Sun Pulse run on HPS magnetic(cor and coil) ballasts as well as Digital ballasts, but it does NOT run on normal MH probe start ballasts. It states this on their FAQ 5th question from the top.
Sun Pulse

Click to expand...

Oh yeah I know all that about other bulbs/ballasts, just was confused about these PSMH. The optilume I'm running is a 250 MH, check out it's spectrum.

Nice, very clean man. Keep it that way.

Nice shot Kcar. We definitely have a similar set up. Wish I had room for another tent though. Oh well gotta work with what I have!

Frozenguy said:

Oh yeah I know all that about other bulbs/ballasts, just was confused about these PSMH. The optilume I'm running is a 250 MH, check out it's spectrum.

Click to expand...

Oh sorry about explaing all that other stuff then. When I look back at your post I don't know why I thought you didn't know that stuff. That optilume has a nice even spectrum to it from the looks of the graph. How's it working out for ya?

Directrix said:

Nice, very clean man. Keep it that way.

Click to expand...

Thanks man. I intend to keep things clean to the MAX.

I agree; nice setup. =) Good luck.

Nice setup. Interested in seeing how you do with the Sun Pulse.

Are you going to use the 6K through stretch or just through veg?

YosemiteSam said:

Nice setup. Interested in seeing how you do with the Sun Pulse.

Are you going to use the 6K through stretch or just through veg?

Click to expand...

Hmm I actually havn't thought of that yet. Interesting idea. I have heard of people doing that with a normal MH to minimize the stretch. I was planning on just switching to 3k right when I flip but I'll have to see how these girls fill out and then decide which way I want to do it.

ok. pulling up a chair for the show. btw, the manufacturer suggests using the full spectrum bulb for the strech period if you have one. i think you would be alright w/ the 3k though. it still has a lot more blue than a traditional bulb.

http://www.sunpulselamps.com/doccuments/postcard_4x6.pdf

Okiedope said:

ok. pulling up a chair for the show. btw, the manufacturer suggests using the full spectrum bulb for the strech period if you have one. i think you would be alright w/ the 3k though. it still has a lot more blue than a traditional bulb.

http://www.sunpulselamps.com/doccuments/postcard_4x6.pdf

Click to expand...

Thanks Okei. I am aware of that 4k lamp they offer. It is pretty sweet but I don't feel like spending the extra bones on it when indeed i believe the 3k will suffice.

Day 7
Alright guys So it has already been a week! Man does time fly. Wow when I look back at the day 1 picture compared to the day 7 picture I can really see how much I have been holding back on the nutrients. I even started right off the bat with 200ppm cal mag but apparently these Hindu Skunk are heavy eaters. I hate to say it but they seem to be lacking in NPK all around, and probably some cal/mag as well. I remember that on the last quest I didn't start feeding for at least 2 weeks, but I suppose the "soil" version is packed with more nutrients then the "soilless" version. I noticed my underfeeding in the past few days and so I recently administered a 650ppm nutrient solution to hopefully correct the deficiency's and jump start this vegetation. Here is a list of what I have been feeding them as of late. Let me know what you guys think! Any comments and constructive criticism are more then welcome.

Feeding(3/09/10)
200ppm cal mag
15ml humega
6ml Liquid Karma
(citric acid PH down)
ppm=450

Water(3/11/10)
200ppm cal mag
50ppm micro blast
(potassium bicarbonate PH up)
ppm =250

Foliar spray(3/15/10)
5ml LK
6ml seaplex
(potassium bicarbonate PH up)

Feeding(3/16/10)
5ml grow
5ml infinity
1ml grow-n
5ml amino aide
(potassium bicarbonate PH up)
ppm= 600

Family shot

best girl

Deficiencies(let me know what you think about them)

You definitely have a few problems. If your in coco you need to feed with every
watering. And I would cut down, or out the foliar spraying. Thats prob where
some of that leaf browning is coming from. Just water - calmag - and a little base nutes.
And only calmag if your using RO or distilled water.

Can you take a pic of the nutes your using?

I would agree they are underfed. Every single time I have gotten in trouble like that has been from following the feed them lite to start advice. I have found it best to just feed at an EC of 1.5 (with my nutes) from day one under fluoros and to jack it up to 2 as soon as they go to HIDs.

Good luck. I think you can get them to recover just fine at this stage.

Kcar said:

You definitely have a few problems. If your in coco you need to feed with every
watering. And I would cut down, or out the foliar spraying. Thats prob where
some of that leaf browning is coming from. Just water - calmag - and a little base nutes.
And only calmag if your using RO or distilled water.

Can you take a pic of the nutes your using?

Click to expand...

I will definitely cut the foliar spraying. I do use R/O rater so I definitely use CalMag with every water. Always 5ml per gal. The first two waterings had 200ppm cal mag along with small amounts of either humic acid or micro nutes so I didn't even give them any Soul base nutes yet witch I see is a mistake. Here is a picture of my nutes. Forgot to add the seaplex and liquid karma but the sea plex was just a sample for foliar, and I am out of LK anyway so I won't be using it.

As for nutrient explanation.
Soul Grow 3–1.25–1.25 and Soul Bloom 1.5-4.5-3 are the base nutes
Amino aide 5–0–0 is like nitrogen/amino acid supplement needed to boost up the Soul Grow N ratio
Infinity 0.5-2.5-1.5 is a catalyst much like LK except a lot stronger with all type of extracts like yucca, bamboo, and sugar cane, ect
Grow-n 8–0–0 is a very powerful N booster if you have more need for N in your feeding. It is advised to use only 1-2ml per gallon.
Big swell 2-5-3 is a PK bud booster with some N in it
Peak 0-12-7 is the Real PK booster that you use in the last week of feeding.
Cal mag 2-0-0 is used because I use R/O water
Micro blast is used about once every 2 weeks.
Humega is used at any watering. It is mainly a soil conditioner with humates, and a liquid microbial solution. It also chelates minerals, and holds onto oxygen molecules as well.

YosemiteSam said:

I would agree they are underfed. Every single time I have gotten in trouble like that has been from following the feed them lite to start advice. I have found it best to just feed at an EC of 1.5 (with my nutes) from day one under fluoros and to jack it up to 2 as soon as they go to HIDs.

Good luck. I think you can get them to recover just fine at this stage.

Click to expand...

Ya I am upping the nutes immediately. So since the light intensity goes up it is advised to up the nutes as well. Makes sense even if they are smaller plants. Thanks I will definitely hit my girls with a nice dose when I start them off next time. I would be very happy to be able to have these plants recover. I just have to treat them right from now on.

According to the website, you should be using between 5 and 10ml per gal of "Grow"
as your base nute right now (Your still vegging, right?) What is your lighting hrs right now?
Anyway, I found this
http://www.aurorainnovations.com/SoulSynthetics_FeedingSchedule.pdf