400W Medicine Cupboard

[indifferent]

Hi folks

Had to stop growing November 2009 for various reasons, but now I am rolling again and the 9 month break I endured has renewed my enthusiasm for this wonderful hobby of ours!

I decided to put this thread here in the UK section as I most enjoy discussing things with fellow UK growers as we have the same products available, often US folks have a whole different set of stuff available and it does make exchanging info that wee bit harder, but I welcome input from everyone!

The cupboard is a piece of office furniture that is 1.25m tall, 850mm wide and 470mm deep internal dimensions, made of really thick MDF with 13mm back so it's really solid, should be cos it cost 175 quid and came flat-packed, but it's much better quality than the sort of flat-pack stuff you run into in large stores.

I lined it with some sunbathing roll mats the local supermarket were selling this summer, they are made of bamboo slivers and one side is covered in mylar, I attached it to the cupboard with 12mm staples. At the top I made the corners curves to better reflect the light.

There are two passive 100mm inlets at the bottom, I fitted lightproof baffles I got from Screwfix, the fresh cool air flows in around the pots to keep the roots nice and cool.

There is a 150mm cooltube mounted in the top, I kept this from my old 250W wardrobe grow. It is connected to 100mm acoustic ducting via a plastic reducing collar I also got from Screwfix. I robbed a roll of silver foil tape from work and used this on all the ducting connectors, it's really reflective, just like mylar.

The ducting exits out the back at the top left, I chose to use acoustic ducting to keep the noise down.

The ducting connects to a small cupboard sat on top which contains the fan and filter, it's a Ruck 100mm inline fan.

The smaller cupboard fits the fan and filter inside with about 2 inches of room to spare on each side, I stuffed loads of soundproofing material onto all 6 sides of the fan to keep noise down further, just like an acoustic box fan but much cheaper, the cupboard was only 25quid and the soundproofing material is just offcuts of the outer part of the acoustic ducting, it works a treat to keep the noise down. I cut a whole in the back of the cupboard for the filter to vent through, the front has a door with a lock, all in all, it's pretty stealthy.

The cupboard came with three shelves, and I cut two strips of one of these and fastened them in place at the top and bottom to lightproof things, the mylar matting covers the gaps where the doors and hinged either side, so it's pretty lightproof.

Eight 7-litre 22cm diameter 30cm deep rose pots fit nicely in the cupboard, it took me ages to find a gravel tray the rightsize and shape, so there isn't one in this pic, I was just checking how many pots would fit.

With the 400W HPS running (Osram SON-T bulb and Magnetic ballast) the temps are 18 lights off, 24 lights on, which I feel is just about perfect. Humidity stays in the range 45-55, which again, is about perfect imho.

So there ya go, a quick pictorial of my setup, tomorrow I will detail my soil mix and organic nutrient regime.

 

[indifferent]

The soilmix I chose was based on what I could get my hands on locally cheaply, I would have preferred to use some different ingredients such as bat guano instead of bonemeal and a different soil rather than Miracle gro, but it will still work.

I have eight 7 litre pots to fill so I need 56 litres of medium.

two 8 litre bags of Miracle Gro Organic Choice Compost (orange bag)
two 5 litre bag of Wilkinson's Vermiculite
one 10 litre brick of Neopeat Coco coir
one 10 litre bag of wormcasts
one 10 litre bag of diatomite
one cup of steamed bonemeal (5-16-0)
one cup of soft rock phosphate (0-0-30)
one cup of chicken manure pellets (4.5-2.5-3.5)
two 150g packets of Rootgrow Mycorrhizal Funghi

That little lot comes to just over 54 litres of medium, which is fine as I won't be filling the pots to the brim.

I have a feeling the Miracle Gro Compost is a mix of coco coir and composted bark with some additives, it is very light and airy, which I always like in a medium, so it doesn't compact and is harder to overwater.

The steamed bonemeal (for P) and the soft rock phosphate (for K) are also Miracle gro products - Bloom Booster and Root Booster from their Organic Choice range. These are normally 4.99 or so a 1.5kg bag, but my local garden centre had em on sale for 1.89 each and the Organic Choice compost was 2.49 on sale instead of 3.99 for a 8 litre bag.

I would have preferred to use bat guano instead of the bonemeal as the bonemeal takes longer to break down and be available to the plants and doesn't improve taste like guano does, but to compensate for this, I am going to use some No Mercy Liquid bat guano in my feeding regime.

The wormcasts are always a part of my soilmixes as I firmly believe in the chelating properties of the humic and fulvic acids they contain as well as them being a rich source of trace elements, basically, I find my plants will eat more and produce bigger flowers if I have worm shit in my soil.

The chicken manure pellets are for a nice range of macro and micro nutrients and trace elements, they also enhance flavour a little, not as much as bat or seabird guano does, but plants like this stuff and it's dirt cheap and available in my local shops.

I chose to use Neopeat coco as I've used hundreds of these bricks before and they never need flushing, it's an ice fine grade of coir with no big pieces too. Local place sells em for 99p so the price is unbeatable.

The Rootgrow Mycorrhizal funghi I chose cos I can buy em locally and they are cheaper then going for a cannabis targetted product like AN Piranha or BAC Funky Funghi. Mycorrhizal funghi are important in a healthy soil, they aid the uptake of nutrients a great deal, essential to have beneficial bacteria and funghi in an organic grow, the chicken manure and wormcasts supply the bacteria, and the Rootgrow adds the funghi.

The Wilkinson's Vermiculite is only 99p for a 5 litre bag, I like to add some to my mixes to improve aeration and make it less prone to compacting, it's damn cheap too. The Diatomite I chose because I am having fungus gnat problems and I heard it helps deal with them.

If you add up the NPKs of my nutrients in this mix it sounds about right for flowering to me:

bonemeal (5-16-0)
soft rock phosphate (0-0-30)
chicken manure pellets (4.5-2.5-3.5)
Overall: 9.5-18.5-33.5

I think this mix will work well, ideally, I would have also added finely chopped seaweed meal and used bat guano instead of the bonemeal and peruvian seabird guano instead of the chicken manure pellets, but overall, I'm happy with it, it was all bought locally (I live in the middle of nowhere) and was cheap, which is also important to me! It has all the elements needed in a good organic soilmix and I can add anything in liquid form the plants tell me they need should they show any signs of deficiencies.

 

[indifferent]

I water every three days with a nice rich blend of organic liquids. I am building a tea brewer which is just a bucket with lid and an air pump and airstone to aerate it to use aerated tea brews on my next run to see if it gives me any benefit over the liquid mix I used on this first run.

I make up 5 litres of feed to this recipe: (my tapwater is ph 6.2, ec 0, almost perfect)

25ml Kay's Horticultural seaweed extract
25ml Chempak liquid worm humus
10ml No Mercy liquid bat guano (2-15-1)
10ml Westland Nutri Organic Liquid (2-1-4)
10ml Rooster High Potash Tomato Booster (Liquid Chicken Manure)
25ml Agralan Revive
Tablespoon of Healthrite Crude Blackstrap molasses (unsulphured) (1-0-5)
5ml Hydrogarden Liquid Silicon
5ml Maxicrop Take Root (first 15 days only, to aid rooting into the big pots)

This works out at roughly ec 2.0, ph 6.2, I check PH but don't adjust it, not needed to so far this run as it stays between 6.1 and 6.3. The guano is high in P, and molasses, seaweed and the liquid chicken manure are all good sources of K.

After 30 days I drop the Westland Nutri and the Rooster liquid chicken manure and add a gram of AN powdered Big Bud which is 0-15-40. The packet says to use 10 grams in 20 litres, which would mean using 2.5g in my 5 litres of liquid feed so I am only using it at just over a third strength. I chose to use it cos someone gave me some 50g packets free and I like to cut out the N and boost P and K as high as the plants will take at two thirds of the way into flowering. I will see how the Big Bud works and may well omit it from my next run.

The Westland Nutri was on sale at my local garden centre, it was only 3.49 for a 2.5 litre bottle and at 2-1-4 it's about the same as Biobizz Bloom and is organic so I figured it would make a useful general Bloom base fert, it has a full range of miconutrients and trace elements too.

Given that I have plenty of worm casts in my soil mix, I'm not sure it's necessary to be adding Liquid Worm Humus, but I have been using it for years and I can feed high EC with no burning, so it seems to work well, plus I have a bottle of it lying around. I use Chempak cos it's much cheaper than AN Grandman Enggy's and GHE Diamond Nectar yet works just as well in my garden.

The liquid bat Guano and Liquid Chicken Manure are high in P and k respectively and are also flavour enhancers. The Molasses is full of goodies the plants love, is rich in potash (K) and feeds the microherd in the soil, all-round great stuff. The seaweed extract is great stuff, also a good source of K and has all kinds of aminos, vitamins, micros and trace elements that plants love, it keeps em green and healthy basically.

The liquid silicon I add because it increases stem thickness and strength and increases plant resistance. Not strictly organic I suppose, but as long as you don't overdo it and feed too much, all is good, I just use it at 1ml per litre throughout flowering until I start the flush.

The Agralan Revive I am using because i got eight bottle of it for 50p each out of the bargain bin at my local garden centre, it is beneficial bacteria and for improving poor soils and promoting plant health, I like the idea of beneficial bacteria so I'm using it, although there should already be plenty of good bacteria in my soil mix it can't hurt to boost them can it? I gave a dose of this once a week for the first 3 weeks, although I suspect one dose would have done the job.

I will feed at ec 2.0 until two weeks before chop then give them just molasses for a week, then plain water for the last week.

Here's hoping all this preparation results in a nice harvest in time for xmas!

 

[headfortrinity]

Looks like you have two of everything you need. Except plants.
just kidding

nice setup, you should do real well.

 

[Blimey]

Nice setup, and a nice detailed description. Me likey.

I'm going to scour my local garden centre for some of those mycorrhizal doodads, and maybe some coco. Always hearing good things about coco.

So....what genetics can we expect?

 

[Moppel]

looking good man. Good luck with the grow.

 

[THC4SIM]

I thought you had some in flower now mate?? where are they??

your mango coming along nicely??
im just sticking with good old canna a & b and the rest of canna range, but gunna swap up canna boost for one that oj recommended..

u all set for cup?

 

[indifferent]

Hi guys

Thanks for the interest. I am currently at day 40 of my first flower run in the new cupboard, I just didn't have time to post plant pics last night. I've been too busy to take many pics so far, but there are a few to show ya.

As for the genes I am working with, here is the White KC, first at 25 days then at 38, I cut out N at day 30 so you can see some fading of the green of the leaves have taken place already, resin production is looking promising but it remains to be seen if she is a keeper. Yield looks to be okay and I think she will probably take 60 days, but I'm letting her go till she's got plenty of amber as she's a full-on indica and I want a nice stony smoke from her.

Day 28:

Day 35:

Despite being called White, she isn't the frostiest thing in the garden, my best looking plant so far is this Purple Afghan x Abusive OG Kush, looks very Kush dom but hasn't got the stretch of the Abusive, the Afghan shortened her a lot and looks like it has added bulk to yield too, buds are very dense, calyxes are huge, resin is prodigious, got a lemony smell with hints of pine, I'm excited to see how this girl finishes up, she will probably take at least 70 days as she is a fair bit behind the White KC and Mango.

 

[Blimey]

Snow everywhere...very nice. Everything's looking great for 5 weeks.

Bud porn. Can't beat it.

 

[indifferent]

I thought you had some in flower now mate?? where are they??

your mango coming along nicely??
im just sticking with good old canna a & b and the rest of canna range, but gunna swap up canna boost for one that oj recommended..

u all set for cup?

Can't go wrong with the good ole Canna A+B mate, I got bored of straight Canna Coco growing so decided to mess with organics for a while. Interesting to see your booster trials, I know oj's crew like the B'cuzz boosters, best booster I have used by far is Bloombastic, but that stuff is mega expensive.

Absolutely cannot wait for the cup, counting the days I am! I shall aim to consume as much hash as possible in 3 days! lol

I have two Mangos, different phones from the same pack, one is a short, fast indica that looks to be a low yielder and a bit leafy, here she is at 39 days:

Mango is KC33 x Afghan, obviously that's the Afghan pheno. I overfed it a bit as you can see from the burnt leaves, but a two week flush will mean it smokes nice enough, doesn't look like a keeper to me though.

The other pheno is the one you have, much bigger, more healthy and vigourous plant, not as nute sensitive, no signs of tip burn on this one. Buds are pretty large but need to do some filling out as they are a bit airy, but she looks to be chunking up nicely the last few days, here she is at day 38:

 

[indifferent]

I have a Reeferman G13 going too, and it has surprised me by how much it stretched, didn't stop gaining height until at least 25 days of flower and it doesn't have the broad indica leaves I expected, but still looks quite Afghan, just not your stocky, broad-leafed Deep Chunk type Afghan. She hs grown past my light so is off in a corner and not getting the best in terms of light, but the small box and the mylar everywhere help with this and she seems to be filling in okay now she has finally stopped stretching! Here she is at day 38:

 

[*mistress*]

enjoy your garden!

 

[indifferent]

Quick update at day 45, here is the PA x OG, looking like it will maybe only take 60-65 days, 70 at most, buds are getting pretty solid with large calyxes and loads of resin like her OG momma. She smells lemony and is getting some slight purple tints on her calyxes, interesting to see if she gets any more purple on her before harvest.

And here is the White KC, also at 45 days and looking like she will be done in 60, I will probably give her one more feed then start flushing. You can see a single male flower on her at the top left, for this reason and because she doesn't look like a keeper, I've tossed the one I just put into flower. it had only been in a few days and was looking a bit droopy, didn't like the hot soil mix methinks or perhaps a bit of transplant shock, so I culled it and the two small clones I had in veg. Yield looks about average for an indica, not as big as I was expecting her to get, although she still has some fattening up to do.

 

[Hazy Lady]

Excellent Indy

Excellent Indy

Fabulous Indy, I am looking forward to your tests, I never realised you had gone to such trouble with your cab, really excellent work, your girls are all looking very happy in there , something about this slim lady I really like, she looks even better now shes a little older.
I'm pulling my seat up next to our *m*

 

[indifferent]

Hi Hazy Lady, thanks for the kind words and so nice to have a pair of lovely ladies in the audience!

I have to confess I took a small bottom bud off that slim OG gal yesterday to sample, and even speed dried the dank lemon/pine floor cleaner smell/taste of the OG is there and the potency and resin coverage are highly promising, the bud was very dense with big calyxes, very nice smoke indeed even at 6 weeks dried in an hour on my ballast, looks promising for this one.

The big Mango which must be the KC33 pheno is looking nice too, the buds are pretty big but not very dense, she smells fruity and is very sticky to the touch, like a greasy, wet stickiness. This one looks like it will take 70 days

The other Mango, the short, squat Afghan pheno doesn't look very impressive, yield looks to be below average, she's too leafy for my tastes and the resin production is nothing special, she smells nice though, not a strong odour, but pleasantly fruity. I am running another cut of this that is at a week or so, see if I can get her performing a bit better, cos this first one is nowhere near dialled-in, but I don't see this as a keeper from the way she looks.

 

[*mistress*]

looking good indiferrent
nice i-dom girls.

select the best.
eliminate the rest.

enjoy your garden!

 

[indifferent]

I agree, I am ruthless with seed plants, if they don't impress me, they are gone. The White KC has been ditched, as has the Mango Afghan pheno, although the one only in flower a week survives for now as there is space for her but I tossed the clones inveg and am not keeping the cut.

The PA x OG looks to be a keeper, the Mango KC33 pheno might be, looks like it could yield big and looks pretty nice so far, see how she smokes, it clones like a dream, has loads of vigour, branches all over the place so growth wise, is a lovely plant to have around, but if she doesn't produce grader A smoke, she's gone.

The G13 from reef I am still a bit puzzled by, stretches a shitload, has thin leaves, looks like it will take 80days to flower and has thin spears, not at all your typical Afghan profile. Unless she either yields like a muthahumper or is mind blowingly potent then I can't see me keeping her, 80 days is way too long for an indica imho.

Here are some pics of the G13 at 45 days, looks nice enough just slow to flower:

There are a couple of cuts of different phenos of ******'s Jack a friend shared with me and a Highland Oaxacan Gold I haven't shown yet, they are only just starting to flower, these are the plants to replace the ones that were raped by my rotten fungus gnat infestation and instead of being in big 7 litre pots like the ones at 45d days, they are in 1.8 litre square pots of the same soilmix. The idea is to see how the difference in pot size effects plant size and yield. The ones in smaller pots are being watered/fed every other day whereas the ones in big pots only got watered/fed every 4-5 days.

I gave the plants in big pots a dose of AN powdered Big Bud, An Hammerhead, No Mercy Liquid Bat Guano, Chempak Liquid Worm Humus, Kay's Seaweed Extract, Blackstrap Molasses, Agralan Revive and Bcuzz Soil Booster at ec 1.9 today (day 45) and for the White KC and Mango Afghan, it will be their last feed, they will get just molasses another couple of waterings, maybe a last dose of bat guano next watering, then plain water for the last few days, aiming to harvest at 60 days, but with seed plants, you never know how long they are gonna take so it's a guessing game when to stop feeding and start flushing. The G13 and Mango will get a couple more feedings at least as they look to be taking at least 70 days. Not sure about the PA x OG, looks like it might be done in 60 days, but might be 65-70, so I might feed her once more.

 

[BeAn]

The PA x OG looks great man!!!

Jah bless..

 

[indifferent]

Cheers Bean. I'm excited about that one, so glad I have kept cuts. I also have a few more seeds left and as soon as i have space I'll pop em, see what other nice phones might be lurking in there.

I noticed another male nanner popping out on the White KC today, and the pistils are turning a dark rusty red fast now. It's day 47 today and I planned to take her at 60, but I think I will end up cutting her down in another 4-5 days as I don't like seeing nanners in my grow at all. i'm just debating what is better - to risk some stray pollen by leaving her in there while she gets the full 2 week flush or give her a fast 5 day flush and haul her down. I will take a look at her triches and see if there is much amber, I am not too keen on taking her early, I wanna see at least a few ambers before I harvest.

 

[indifferent]

Just checked the triches on the White KC, they are 90% clear, 10% cloudy, so I will just keep picking off any male nanners as they appear and keep her going, flushing with plain water from now on, as soon as I see the triches turn cloudy and a few are amber she will get the chop, I hate hermies!