Garden shed 400W HPS 4-plant ebb & flow scrog

OGPurp

Member

• Aug 18, 2006

• #1

'Sup Fellow Cultivators,

The last time I kept a grow diary, OG went down just one week before harvest . My current grow (see http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=33360) should be done in 2.5 weeks, so I'm getting prepared for the next generation.

Here are the babies I'll be using. I've grown this strain successfully before, it's a great indoor indica plant but I don't know its name. They're around 12 days old, and the cubes are busting out with roots.



I'm a personal med pot grower with 2 previous scrogs under my belt. The goal for this grow is to maximize yield in my 2" x 3" flood table. Some of the incremental improvements I'm planning are:

- veging longer to fill the screen more completely before going 12/12

- using 2" chicken wire for the screen, to maximize tops

- lowering the height of the screen, to minimize veg time and maximize space above the plants

Stay tuned, I'll keep this thread updated. The last picture is my trusty mother plant. She's about one year old now, and has provided several crops. But she's old and getting a little moldy, so in a couple of days she's headed to the compost and I'll select a new mother from the current batch of clones.

 

pontiac

Pass That S**t!

Veteran

• Aug 18, 2006

• #2

 

OGPurp

Member

• Aug 19, 2006

• #3

The babies are doing well, so I started them on a nutrient solution. I also sent my year-old mother plant to compost, and moved the babies into my 4' x 1' flood table. All's well.

 

G

Guest

• Aug 20, 2006

• #4

keep that light close to them (but not TOO close) so they grow quick and make lots of branches (less stretching)

get a small fan and blow gently just ABOVE the tops of the plants... this will cause their stems to get stonger. (you want the plants to gently sway)

give them good nutes, and top them once, and they should fill your screen in no time.

POW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Maj.PotHead

End Cannibis Prohibition Now Realize Legalize !!

Mentor

Veteran

• Aug 20, 2006

• #5

I also sent my year-old mother plant to compost

may i ask why unless sick beyound repair flower her

 

OGPurp

Member

• Aug 23, 2006

• #6

I knew that mini-fan would come in handy


I'm using a weak solution of the 3-part GH nutes. Thanks for stoppin' by, POW!

'Sup Maj, My mother plant was old and growing wild. My space is limited, and she wouldn't fit in my garden shed. I guess I could have tried to flower her outside, but I've never gone outdoors. There were also some bugs...just time for a new start.

This is how they look today, all's well. In 2 weeks, they're going under the scrog screen and HPS.

 

OGPurp

Member

• Aug 25, 2006

• #7

The babies are 3 weeks old and responding well to the nutes. Four of the five, the ones I'm going to use for my next crop, are between 7" to 8" now, with some nice side branch growth. One laggard is 6", I think she's going to become my next mother. Some of them have roots growing through the bottom of the 3" rockwool cubes, so I know they're healthy.

The extra clones are off to compost, looks like I won't be needing them.

 

G

Guest

• Aug 25, 2006

• #8

You don't want a laggard for a mother plant, you want the best looking clone for your mom. Remember your future grows will be based on that mother plant, do you really want to keep the slowest growing one?

 

Laxpunker

Active member

• Aug 25, 2006

• #9

Closet Hack said:

You don't want a laggard for a mother plant, you want the best looking clone for your mom. Remember your future grows will be based on that mother plant, do you really want to keep the slowest growing one?

Click to expand...

Well a number of things can influence slow growth, light conditions, ferts, etc. Also at least in my experience a lot of the slower growing plants have turned out to be the better. It all depends on what phenotypes you're looking for.

 

G

Guest

• Aug 26, 2006

• #10

Laxpunker said:

Well a number of things can influence slow growth, light conditions, ferts, etc. Also at least in my experience a lot of the slower growing plants have turned out to be the better. It all depends on what phenotypes you're looking for.

Click to expand...

All his clones are from the same mother and in the same environment so talking phenotypes is pointless. If it were mine I'd pick the most vigorous clone and make that the new mom JM$.02

 

OGPurp

Member

• Aug 28, 2006

• #11

Lax and Hack, thanks for stopping by. I used to do SOG grows, so I'm probably still conditioned to think of the convenience of similar height clones. But I guess this is less of an issue with scrog, so I'll pick the most vigorous clone for motherhood.

4 are doing really nice, but one is slower and has less side branch growth. Here's how they look today, still 8 more days 'til they go under the HPS. I topped the 4 strong ones, and they're all getting the "General Purpose - Mild" 3-part GH nute formula

 

OGPurp

Member

• Aug 28, 2006

• #12

BTW, this is the shed (a "Keter High Shed" ) that encloses my little garden, inside my garage.

 

G

Guest

• Aug 28, 2006

• #13

I like the shed, that's a great stealth idea. Good choice on the mom, I kinda screwed up with my C99's in a stoner moment and kept a slower growing clone for a mom and I'm kickin myself in the ass over it now.

 

OGPurp

Member

• Sep 7, 2006

• #14

Day 0 - Moving under the HPS

Day 0 - Moving under the HPS

Yesterday I harvested my existing 4-plant scrog at day 66 (see http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=33360&page=2&pp=15) so I can get one with the new grow, yeah!

The babies are about 1 month old and average about 14" tall. They all have growing root systems extending out of the rockwool cube, and did well under the fluorescent. In a stoner moment, I forgot to take the plastic wrap off 2 of the 4 cubes before putting them into the Hydroton, we'll see if the slight root constriction makes any difference.

They're getting 18 hr of HPS/day, with a table flood/3 hours. Again I'm using the 3-part GH nute set at the "vegetative growth stage" application mixture rate.

Check out my new scrog screen with 2" chicken wire (or as the packaging said "poultry netting"...is that politicial correctness, ). I made it really tight, so I can hardly wait 'til a sea of colas are poking through the top.

 

OGPurp

Member

• Sep 9, 2006

• #15

Day 0 - Veging

Day 0 - Veging

The tallest one is now 18", with the top just hitting the scrog screen. All transplants are looking really good. There was a slight problem last crop with my portable A/C blowing directly on some leaves which made them brown. Today I placed a piece of cardboard covered with mylar to deflect the A/C flow.



The mother plant is in a black pot with Hydroton now, also doing really well.

 

OGPurp

Member

• Sep 15, 2006

• #16

Day 0 - Switching to 12/12

Day 0 - Switching to 12/12

All 4 of my ladies are hitting the screen, and I've had to turn about 6 tops under. The growth is really lush, I trimmed some sun leaves today to give the branches more light.


Though I would have liked to veg for one more week to fill the screen, I need to start flowering now in order to be finished for a house guest who's visiting at the end of November. I've grown this strain several times before, it needs 8 weeks of flowering, then a 10-day flush. Here's the grow schedule:

Take clones: Aug 5
Moved under HPS: Sept 5
Switched to 12/12: Sept 15 {9/16 = day 1}
Change res solution: Sept 22
Change res solution: Oct 6
Take clones for next crop: Oct 14
Change res solution: Oct 20
Start flushing: Nov 11
Chop: Nov 21 or 22

Mother is also doing well. My next project is to construct an enclosure for the 4-ft fluorescent so I can get it out of my closet!

 

OGPurp

Member

• Sep 16, 2006

• #17

Day 1 - The A/C

Day 1 - The A/C

Some info about the A/C. It's a WindChaser, 7000 BTU I think. It's got a digital thermostat so you just set the temperature you want to maintain. There is one 4" exhaust pipe which goes outside the shed and then vents through a window in the garage. I've heard the better portable A/Cs have separate intake and exhausts. The exhaust from my A/C includes the smelly air from the grow room, so it's a small security concern, but I run a C scrubber in the shed to clean the air. During the hot months, the A/C unit is always on though it doesn't need to cool much at night usually.

Generally, I'm happy with it. I've heard portable A/Cs aren't the most efficient way to cool, but I like how everything is hidden in the room. It saved my ass during the California heatwave in July. I wasn't around for the worst of it, but I'm sure the temperatures in my garage reached 120F, ouch, but I came home to a shed full of healthy buds. I don't need it in the winter, though it can be used as a dehumidifier around harvest time.

A drawback is that it takes up a fair bit of space. And it's noticeably noisy. If the power went out, such as a rolling blackout during the summer, I don't think the digital themostat would reset and thus I guess it's wouldn't turn on again though I never tested this.

 

G

Guest

• Sep 16, 2006

• #18

Looking good! Cant wait to see the buds. It must be good to able to set the temp you want and just leave it.
I am just about to start 12/12, I Wish you best of Luck!
~ neilspotshop

 

OGPurp

Member

• Sep 24, 2006

• #19

Day 8 - Ventilation and Odor Control

Day 8 - Ventilation and Odor Control

The ladies are doing well. Growth is lush, and the flowering growth spurt kicked in during the past couple of days. Tomorrow I'm going to trim sun leaves for the first time, just enough to give the lower branches more light.



Ventilation Upgrades

I used to use 2 cheap 250 CFM induct fans like these, in a scrubber > fan > AC hood > fan > exhaust configuration.



I upgraded earlier today to an Elicent 309 CFM 6" centrifugal fan in a scrubber > fan > AC hood > exhaust. What a fan! When you turn it on, it's like a jet engine revving. It's not whisper-quiet, but it hardly makes a peep when you consider the air flow. And it's a lot quieter than the fans it replaces. Theoretically, it's replacing the air in my 70 ft³ cab more than 4X/min.


My ducting isn't the most efficient configuration, but the power of the fan ensures there's no problem.


After the ducting comes out the roof of the shed, it's about 8' to the exhaust point.


The 6" ducting is finally passed through a reducer then vented through the 4" dryer outlet (outlet door is continually open, no flapping at all). You can feel the breeze if you stand near the exhaust. I also changed the C in the scrubber, and I didn't notice any garden smells, just the fresh smell of scrubbed air.

 

G

Guest

• Sep 24, 2006

• #20

Great to hear the Elicent worked out for you!

On my last grow I had a very similar setup to yours, with a cheap "duct booster" fan to cool my AC hood, and have been meaning to upgrade to a 6" Vortex and a scrubber.

I'll be pulling up a seat and watching the show!