[stealthpackage]

Diary
Overview:
This will be a DWC closet grow of three plants, (1) White Russian and (2) Pot of Gold (I think so, anyway, my clone person got confused when cutting them, so it’s all a guess until they start to flower and the smells differentiate them). I’ll be LSTing them as they go through the vegetative stage. I started out wanting to ScrOG them, but decided against it, as I just want to get my first crop out, then move on to the more complex methods and techniques.

Construction:
Each plant will be housed in it’s own 5 gallon bucket, wrapped in Reflectix insulating foam. Lids have been constructed by drilling a 3 inch hole in the top for a 3.5 inch net pot, screwed and zip tied into place from the bottom, and two 1/8 inch holes for airlines. 4 holes to be used by screen connecting arms have been predrilled as well (decided against the ScrOG, holes won’t be used). The lids have also been covered in Reflectix material and waterproofed.
Lighting will be accomplished by a 600W HPS bulb in an air-cooled hood all throughout the grow. I’m using a FutureBrite digital ballast, and hope to reap the rewards of the higher cost of this thing. Ducting will run from the right side of the hood to the ceiling, through the hole that used to be my overhead closet light, and into a 175 cfm CanFan which will then push the air through a CanFilter in the attic. This seems to do a really good job, as the light produces very little heat and I can feel quite a bit of air moving when I put my hand near the open end of the hood. We’ll see how it works when these girls get stinky! I’m using passive intake through regular DuPont A/C type filters.
I lined the inside of my closet with mylar sheeting for reflectivity, and lined the floor first with 2 mil painting dropsheets, then with Reflectix. No spills or anything should cause me problems here! A short wooden frame was built running along the floor to allow for the passive air inflow, and a tarp with zipper has been used for access and to seal the room off.

Procedure:
Holland Secret macronutrients will be used throughout the grow, and the HS feed chart will be adhered to fairly strictly. HS AAA Carboblast and Heavies will be used during the flowering cycle to enhance growth and produce potent buds. Some sort of root enhancing nutrient solution will be used, and the exact type may change throughout the grow. The grow room will be kept between 78-88 degrees fahrenheit, preferably around 85. pH will hover around 5.5 – 6.5 and will be checked using whatever method is available, at the beginning, it will be a pH test kit. The water in the buckets will be kept below 72 degrees by whatever method is possible. For the time being, frozen 20 oz or 1 L water bottles will be placed in the buckets at 4-8 hour intervals. (shorter intervals happened at the beginning, but lately {Week 2 Flower} I haven’t put that much emphasis on it, which seems to be OK)

Diary:

Monday August 21, 2006 – Approx.
- Clones still in rockwool, kept moist with a mixture of HS Prop-o-gator @ 4 mL/L and HS Super B+ @ 2 mL/L

Thursday August 24, 2006 – Approx.
- Clones moved into cloning box with vermiculite as medium.
- Water in the reservoir was HS Prop-o-gator @ 5 mL/L and HS Super B+ @ 2 mL/L.
- Roots are beginning to come out of the rockwool cubes quite nicely.

Monday August 28, 2006 – Vegetative – Day 1
- Clones were moved into their buckets.
- Each bucket had water up to the level of the net pots, and the mixture was as follows:
o HS Nitrogen – 3 mL per 4 L water
o HS Phosphorus – 2 mL per 4 L water
o HS Potassium – 1 mL per 4 L water
o HS Super B+ - 15 mL per 4 L water
o HS Prop-o-gator – 5 mL per L water
ß The measurements of NPK are directly from Holland Secret feed chart
- Light hood = 36 in. from buckets
- pH = approx. 6.0-6.5

Tuesday September 2, 2006 – Second feeding
- At this point, solid growth is showing in the branching and root systems of plants 2 and 3. Plant 1 is showing decent root growth, but fairly little branching and leaf growth is occurring. Hopefully this one will catch up to the others.
- The water level of plant 1 is again at the level of the net pots, but the levels of plants 2 and 3 are 1 L lower as their root growth allows it. Nutrient mixtures are as follows:
o HS Nitrogen – 5 mL per 4 L water
o HS Phosphorus – 3 mL per 4 L water
o HS Potassium – 2 mL per 4 L water
o HS Super B+ - Plants 1&2 : 15 mL per 4 L water Plant 3: Approx. 12 mL per 4 L water
o BB Root Juice – 3 mL per L water
- Light hood = 30 in. from buckets
- pH = approx. 6.0
- Room Temp. = 85.4 degrees
- Bucket Temp. = Approx. 70 degrees
- Relative Humidity = 48%-51%

Monday September 11, 2006 – Third Feeding
- All is looking well, lots of solid, compact growth. I’m suspecting a spider mite problem, but it may be something else. I’ll be spraying with a mixture of ground pepper powder, nicotine extract, and neem oil mixed with water to combat them. Also, I’ll place a HotShot No Pest Strip in the room.
- Nutrient mix as follows:
o HS Nitrogen – 10 mL per 4 L water
o HS Phosphorus – 5 mL per 4 L water
o HS Potassium – 3 mL per 4 L water
o BioBizz Root Juice – 3 mL per L water
- Light hood = approx. 26-28 in. from buckets
- PH = Approx. 6.0
- Room Temp. = 80.0 degrees
- Bucket Temp. = Approx. 70 degrees
- Relative Humidity = 48%-51%

Wednesday September 13, 2006 – Top off
- Today I topped off the two larger plants with 1 L 1/2 strength nute solution each

Thursday September 14, 2006 – pH Issues
- Lately, I’ve been noticing some yellowing and holes in the leaves as well as some twisting, and mistook it for spider mites, but I check pH and found levels as high as 7.5, so I adjusted accordingly.

Friday September 15, 2006 – LST action
- I LSTed the left hand larger plant today, and it really seemed to help out in distributing the light. There is a much greater percentage of light being used on the plants, as opposed to having the sites in the middle of the plant sitting in shadows.
- The middle plant was also tied down to some extent, I think this one might get a screen of green.

Sunday September 17, 2006 – Fourth Feeding – last week of vegetative stage
- Hopefully this nutrient change will handle the pH problems the plants have been having. I’ll be checking the pH of the solution frequently now to avoid any big problems. I don’t want a nutrient lockout.
- Used the same ratios as last week, except less Root Juice. This will be the last week of using any root stimulators, they shouldn’t really need any more after this week.
- Cleaned the buckets using hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach, as I suspect that the very basic bleach may have been the culprit in the pH issue.
o HS Nitrogen – 10 mL per 4 L water
o HS Phosphorus – 5 mL per 4 L water
o HS Potassium – 3 mL per 4 L water
o BioBizz Root Juice – 2 mL per L water

Monday September 18, 2006 – pH Check
- pH looked slightly high this morning, I’ll check again later.
- All is well, it seems

Wednesday September 20, 2006 – Flowering – Week 1
- Today I went ahead and changed the nutrients out to start flowering. I also set the timer to turn off at 7:30PM and start back the next day at 7:30AM, giving the girls 12 hours of darkness to begin the flowering cycle!
- Nutrients
o HS Nitrogen – 6 mL/ 4 L water
o HS Phosphorous – 6 mL/ 4 L water
o HS Potassium – 10 mL/ 4 L water
- Light hood = approx. 26 in. from buckets
- pH = approx. 5.7
- Room Temp. = 80 degrees
- Bucket Temp. = Approx. 70 degrees
- Relative Humidity = 48%-50%

Sunday September 24, 2006 – Leaves showing nutrient problems, etc.
- I decided to leach the plants for a couple of days, as the leaves were showing some issues. The smaller middle plant was showing what looked like light bleaching on a couple of the leaves, but couldn’t have been that, as the light is too far away and barely produces any heat. The side plants had something else going on, the leaves were kind of bumpy in some places, yellowish brown spots/lines. Who knows... Hopefully the leach will get them back into shape so they can THRIVE!

Tuesday September 26, 2006 – Flowering – Week 2
- Moving right along, the plants haven’t gotten any worse as far as those previous symptoms are concerned, so I think that once I get these new nutrients in the buckets, they’ll bounce back and be healthier than ever!
- I’ve decided that the problems in the leaves were probably caused by nutrient build up or toxic salts since I wasn’t topping up the buckets regularly enough. I’ll start keeping the water level high by alternating straight pH-balanced tap water and 1/4 strength nutrients. I should probably have to top up twice a week, so the first time I’ll just add straight water, and the second time I’ll add the 1/4 strength nutrients.
- Also, the issues could have been caused by the fact that I used bleach to clean my buckets during the first 3 nutrient change-outs, and although I wiped them out, rinsed, them wiped again, the bleach leaves some kind of toxic build-up or heavy base that alters pH. I started using Hydrogen Peroxide last week and will continue that, so I’m sure that will help.
- I’m starting with the flowering additives this week, with AAA Carbo Blast.
- Nutrients
o HS Nitrogen – 4 mL/ 4 L water
o HS Phosporous – 7 mL/ 4 L water
o HS Potassium – 12 mL/ 4 L water
o HS AAA Carbo Blast – 1 gr./ 4 L water
- Light hood = Approx. 26-28 in. from buckets
- pH = approx. 5.5-5.8
- Room Temp. = 77 degrees (Winter is coming on and it’s cooling the room with it, which should be ok)
- Bucket Temp. = Approx. 70 degrees
- Relative Humidity = Approx. 48%

Tuesday October 3, 2006 – Flowering – Week 3
- I’m really excited right now, because the plants are thriving and showing no signs of the problems that they were having before. I’ve been keeping a pretty tight watch on the pH, making sure that it stays in the 5.6-6.0 range, and have only had to adjust it once. Also, I’ve been topping the buckets up as I planned to, and all is looking well, I don’t think the leach slowed them down at all.
- You can really see the bud sites now, and it looks like lots of decent sized colas on the two larger plants, and some OK ones on the smaller girl. She has really taken off, and isn’t showing to be lagging too much behind the others.
- I’ve got a good half-pipe shape going on with the canopy right now, which is great, since that lets the buds on the sides grow up towards the heavier light concentration while the ones in the central area get approximately the same amount as they’re in the center with the most concentrated light. I’m only concerned that the far right and left sides aren’t getting as much light as they could be. I’ve raised the light to spread it out some more, but I feel like I’m losing intensity. I wish I had a light meter to get some readings… Maybe next time.
- The root systems are looking incredible; without a good root system, a plant can’t grow to its fullest extent.
- Nutrients (same as last week)
o HS Nitrogen – 4 mL/ 4 L water
o HS Phosporous – 7 mL/ 4 L water
o HS Potassium – 12 mL/ 4 L water
o HS AAA Carbo Blast – 1 gr./ 4 L water
- Light hood = Approx. 30-32 in. from buckets
- pH = 5.5-5.8
- Room Temp. = 75-77 degrees
- Bucket Temp. = Approx. 70-72 degrees (I haven’t been going out of my way to put frozen soda bottles in them lately, but it doesn’t seem to be causing any problems, since the closet is not all that hot anyway…)
- Relative Humidity = Approx. 55% (I’m not sure why the humidity has been so high lately, it could be due to the fact that I’m not using the A/C in the room in which the closet is located anymore. I might have to do something about this later…)
- All in all, I’m happy with the way the grow is going right now. As far as a first timer is concerned, I’d say I’m succeeding!

That must have been really boring to read, so here we go with some pictures. This might take a while. I'll be doing some editing...
Happy growing!

[stealthpackage]

Here's the first round of photos. From now on, I'll post pics with the updates, which will hopefully happen a couple times a week. I know that I love to watch start to finish grows with all the details, so I figure mine might be of use to someone new to this hobby.

[stealthpackage]

And these are from today Oct. 3, 2006... Hope this isn't too many pictures. I will take some of the roots when lights are back on tomorrow. Hope you enjoy my show!

[stealthpackage]

By the way, is it safe to remove some of the leaves on these bushes? If so, how many should i worry about leaving? I understand the purpose of the leaves, and that removing them cuts down on the amount of photosynthesis that can take place, but I want the buds to be able to get lots of light, so how many can I remove before I see negative effects? I want to cut down on shadowing in the middle and lower sections of the plants. Thanks ahead of time!!!

[stealthpackage]

Here's the latest... They're coming along really well. I can't believe how quickly the buds have started forming, it's amazing! I've raised the light some to get a wider footprint, and have taken off a few leaves a day from each plant; just the big ones that shade the most buds. I'm doing this slowly so that I don't shock the plants, and won't do it at all for about two weeks until the buds get big enough to pull in enough light for themselves. I might go nearly naked down below like in ScrOG grows. Pictures below!

[stealthpackage]

Here's a shot of the roots on the largest plant and the smallest one, respectively. They're HUGE, and by the way, the coloring is slightly brown from some organic root stimulator I used (BioBizz Root Juice) and the photograph actually makes them look more brown...:


The rest are shots of the beautiful buds that are taking shape on these girls! I'm working on using the macro function on my camera, and I'm trying to find a way to light them for pictures without using the flash with the HPS off. Although the HPS sometimes makes them look like molten metal, which is cool, I want to do justice to the color of the plants!:






Enjoy, and as always, good luck

[stealthpackage]

Tuesday October 10, 2006
- Everything’s looking good. The top leaves have been looking slightly burned lately, and I’ve raised the light up a significant amount, which gives much more spread out, although less concentrated, light.
- Had to top the buckets up at least 3 different times this week. I never had time to mix up nutrients when I topped up, but I’m going to start doing that from now on every other top up.
- I did a lot of trimming while I changed out the nutrients today, hopefully the plants will respond by producing much more growth up top where I want it. I trimmed any branches where the budsites looked less developed than most, and ended up with a plastic grocery bag filled up by all three plants.
- Sadly, I screwed up when I was lifting up the left hand side plant today, and bumped it’s largest cola into my circulation fan, snapping the stem about 2 inches down. One budsite came off and I splinted the break, so we’ll see what happens with that. Sad, sad thing…
- Nutrients
o HS Nitrogen – 3 mL / 4 L water
o HS Phosphorous – 8 mL / 4 L water
o HS Potassium – 14 mL / 4 L water
o HS AA Carbo Blast – 1 gr./ 4 L water
- Light hood = 41 in. from buckets
- pH = 5.4-5.8
- Room Temp. = 75-78 degrees
- Bucket Temp. = Approx. 70-72 degrees
- Relative Humidity = Approx. 46% (It’s back down low, where it should be during flower, I don’t want any mold problems. I know that low humidity brings on pests sometimes, but I don’t think that my room is contaminated with anything.

[stealthpackage]

Here are some shots of them on Day 22! They're looking really good, and are starting to frost up a little bit. I'm really surprised at how far from the buds the trichs will still show up. There are some forming on the bases of large fan leaves, this will be great for hash!! I'm having fun here!!
Shot 1: Aerial Shot of all three (about 1 foot on each side is cut off in the pic)
Shot 2: A duct tape bandage on the largest cola on one of the plants, oops!
Shot 3: A pretty shot of one of the tops
Shot 4: Another budshot
Shot 5: This will one day be a forearm sized cola, and I can't wait!

[stealthpackage]

Yikes, a big mistake happened recently... Apparently my timer has been acting funny. I noticed last night that the timer wasn't turning the lights off, as it's switch wasn't catching when the timer reached the off point. I found this out because I turned the timer manually about 5 minutes worth so that I could take some lights-off photos, and it didn't turn off. I just pulled the plug and went and bought another timer. I woke up an hour late (8:30 and the lights are supposed to go on at 7:30) but plugged them in with the new timer, but it has no "ground" connection, so it didn't work. I rechecked the old timer and played with it for a while, finally go it working... I'm hoping that that hour this morning doesn't throw the girls off. If you're reading this, please give me some peace of mind, ha! Good luck to me! Adios, there will be some new pictures posted when I get off of work in a bit.

[fallenangel]

wow what detail . good luck with that timer . nam myoho renge kyo . positive vibes your way !