Smeden goes to Mars

[Smeden]

Hi all

It's been like 11-12 years since I enjoyed growing some green. Finally back at it and enjoying every moment.

Firstly big thanks to Mars Hydro for selling such a broad line of lights, tents and ventilation. Everything arrived within 1 week from placing the order.

Equipment:
- 1 x Mars Hydro 80x80x160cm tent (clones and veg).
- 1 x Mars Hydro SP 150 (clones and veg).
- 2 x Mars Hydro 120x120x200cm tents (veg + bloom).
- 1 x Mars Hydro SP 250 (veg + bloom).
- 1 x Mars Hydro SP 300 (veg + bloom).

Genetics:
- 3 x AK47, fem (Serious Seeds).
- 2 x Strawberry AKeil, fem (Serious Seeds).
- 2 x Amnesia Lemon Haze, fem (Barneys Farm).
- 5 x Wild Thailand, fem (World Of Seeds).
- 2 x Pink Kush, clones (Barneys Farm).
- 2 x Gorilla Bomb, clones (2 pheno types).
- 1 x Ghost Train Haze #1, clone. (Rare Dankness).
- 1 x MAC#1, clone.

"Planned" Nutrients:
- AN - PH PERFECT - GROW, MICRO, BLOOM (as base).
- AN - Voodoo Juice.
- AN - Bud Factor X.
- AN - B52.
- AN - Big Bud.
- AN - Rhino Skin.
- AN - Bud Ignitor.
- AN - Overdrive.
- AN - Bud Candy.
- AN - Flawless Finish (planning min. 2 week flush).

Soil:
- Best quality Peat Moss I could find (produced in Germany).
- 10% perlite.
- 10% worm castings.
- 10% vermiculite.
- Small dose of Mychorriza mixed in.
- Hydroton on the top to keep the top of the soil moist.

12 fem strains are 5 weeks from sprouting seeds and was transplanted into 28L airpots 2 weeks ago.
6 clones are 1 week from transplant into 28L airpots.
I plan to flip them to 12/12 around 22nd August.
All plants from seeds was topped last night.

5xWild Thailand, 2xStrawberry AKeil and 2xAmnesia Lemon Haze under 2xSP250 @ 90% (SAK shows what I believe is Cal/Mag deficiency and ALH doest seem to like heavy nutes - not too bad, so I am not worried at this stage) :

3xAK47, 2xGorilla Bomb, 2xPink Kush, 1xGhost Train Haze #1 and 1xMAC 1.

I am super impressed with the SP 150 during the early VEG. All plants have less than 1cm internode spacing and each plant has between 6-8 sets of branches.
SP 150 is clearly more blue color than SP250 and SP300, the young plants loved it and it is the first time I have grown plants so short and bushy - without any cropping or work to help them to get "bushy".

A couple of questions:
1. My tap water is 0.15 EC - I have a reverse osmosis system I was planning to use for a large salt water aquarium, BUT is it worth the hazzle/extra work?
2. I have not ordered all the BLOOM nutrients from AN yet. If I order all on their list I guess my feeding EC would be around 3.5-4 (too high). Anybody who can recommend which of the AN BLOOM nutrients are best/most important?
3. Anything else? suggestions or other improvements I can do? (I am rusty on growing the green - it has been a long time since my last grow).

 

[Creeperpark]

Its good to see you are back growing again. Nice set up too!!!! WOW If you have RO, I would use it instead of Tap water. The RO water will help the nutrients dissolve into a purer solute.
I use the General Hydroponics 3-part flora series. Your grow looks good. Keep us posted.

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

Welcome back, buddy. wow, SP250 is a historic light. i guess you have used it for 3 years? thanks for your sincerely support. for me, the plants look pretty well so far.

If you would like to try our new light in the near future, pls have a look at our FCE and FC series.

 

[Smeden]

- Creeperpark thanks. Good inputs on the RO water, I would off course like to exchange the 0.2EC tap with 0.2EC nutrients, somehow I knew it, just too lazy to do it. Thanks for kicking me in the butt
If the plants can take example 2.5EC during flowering it is a potential 8% increase in nutrients.

- Mars Hydro Led thanks. Yes the SP250's are 2.5 years old, but only have 2 grows on their back and yielded around 1g/W or 400g and 490g per grow with the SP250 at factory dim (90% I think).
I was planning to order the FC6500, but they were sold out locally and I just could not wait as the plants was ready. + I thought it would be interesting to see how SP300s perform compared to SP250s (love the dimming function and ability to put the drivers outside the tent).

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

- Creeperpark thanks. Good inputs on the RO water, I would off course like to exchange the 0.2EC tap with 0.2EC nutrients, somehow I knew it, just too lazy to do it. Thanks for kicking me in the butt
If the plants can take example 2.5EC during flowering it is a potential 8% increase in nutrients.

- Mars Hydro Led thanks. Yes the SP250's are 2.5 years old, but only have 2 grows on their back and yielded around 1g/W or 400g and 490g per grow with the SP250 at factory dim (90% I think).
I was planning to order the FC6500, but they were sold out locally and I just could not wait as the plants was ready. + I thought it would be interesting to see how SP300s perform compared to SP250s (love the dimming function and ability to put the drivers outside the tent).

the comparison would be very interesting. we will check it out here.

 

[RubeGoldberg]

2. I have not ordered all the BLOOM nutrients from AN yet. If I order all on their list I guess my feeding EC would be around 3.5-4 (too high). Anybody who can recommend which of the AN BLOOM nutrients are best/most important?

Their pH perfect line EC runs higher because of all the non-salt ingredients, its generally nothing to worry about. Their rep told me their charts can be treated as sort of a priority list if you're unsure of what to buy, just start at the base and add on as needed (or pick the ones that make the most sense to you)

their tech support is pretty good if you call them.

 

[Smeden]

@Mars Hydro Led Thanks and yes let's see how it goes. This grow has much larger pots, better soil mix and maybe better/or at least more expensive fertilizer.

@RubeGoldberg Thanks a lot, very valuable inputs. I could not figure out why the EC was so high and the plants still seems to like it. Any suggestion's on what AN bloom additives to add? If I go for ALL I expect the EC to become extremely high, maybe 4-5.

Decided to re-arrange the plants yesterday, so each tent has a center line of 3 smaller plants.
After a 14 hour dark period, where the coming bud sites stretched 3-4 cm, the 12/12 Flowering has started.

2xSP300 (@80%) with 3xAK47, 2xPink Kush, 1xMAC1, 2xStrawberry AKeil and 1xAmnesia Lemon Haze.

2xSP250 (@90%) 5xWild Thailand, 2xGorilla Bomb, 1xGhost Train Haze and 1xAmnesia Lemon Haze.

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

So far, they look pretty well. keep it going.

 

[RubeGoldberg]

@RubeGoldberg Thanks a lot, very valuable inputs. I could not figure out why the EC was so high and the plants still seems to like it. Any suggestion's on what AN bloom additives to add? If I go for ALL I expect the EC to become extremely high, maybe 4-5.

I think all of the one's you listed are pretty good. I think ignitor, big bud and overdrive are their 3 bloom boosters, and they spread them out depending on what stage of flower (eg a early flower plant has different biological triggers than a mid or late bloom)

 

[Smeden]

@RubeGoldberg Thanks again. I think you are correct, Ignitor, Big Bud and Overdrive is overlapping each other with different feeding schedules. I also ordered Bud Factor X, Rhino Skin, B-52, Sensizym, Bud Candy and Flawless finish.
Yesterday and today, I have added; Bud Ignitor, Rhino Skin, Bud Factor X, Sensizym, Bud Candy as prescribed and feeding EC was 2.2.
They look happy so far and I think they don't mind a higher EC in the near future when adding Big Bud on week 2 and B-52 on week 3.
Epsom salt and CAL/MAG was taking up app 0.5-0.6 EC per feeding, but as long as I don't see CAL/MAG deficiency I will not add these any more.

A couple of things I have learned the past week:
1. I love these "new to me" training clips we can attach to a branch and force the direction. Used them on Amnesia Lemon Haze and the Strawberry AKs for 4 days and after removal I think they worked very well on Indica dominated plants, where the branches don't want to spread away from the main stem. And now using them on the two Pink Kush, which was aiming for the sky.
2. The SP model will have an advantage over FC models if growing different strains in a tent. Since a grower can position plants according to height and just raise one of the SPs. Both lamps will still be hanging correct and facing down, which is not the case if using a FC model at 10-20 degrees inside a tent.
3. It already looks like the 2xSP3000s will do much better than the 2xSP250's. Hard to say with different strains in each tent, but the SP3000 tent is way ahead on plant volume.

4 days into flowering:
2xSP3000 (@100%) with 3xAK47, 2xPink Kush, 1xMAC1, 2xStrawberry AKeil and 1xAmnesia Lemon Haze.

2xSP250 (@100%) 5xWild Thailand, 2xGorilla Bomb, 1xGhost Train Haze and 1xAmnesia Lemon Haze.

 

[GMT]

Nice pics, tagging for the show

 

[Smeden]

@GMT thx, this show is over though.
Curing on 3rd week now.
1118g from 16 plants / 15 different genetics (910W during flowering).
Lost 2 plants to herma tendencies and forgot I had put the SP3000s @ 75%, so there is room for improvement on the next grow.
36 days VEG from sprouted seeds.
63-69 days FLOWERING.
9-13 days flushing before harvest.

SP3000 tent 3 days before harvest.

 

[Creeperpark]

That Light kicked ass and you got a bunch of buds. Every garden will give you problems until you learn what's wrong and solve them. Challenges will appear and reappear over and over until you find the solutions and will only be better if you know what you did on the last one. Thank you for sharing your hard work.

 

[GMT]

I should check dates as well as picks. Nice haul though.

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

@GMT thx, this show is over though.
Curing on 3rd week now.
1118g from 16 plants / 15 different genetics (910W during flowering).
Lost 2 plants to herma tendencies and forgot I had put the SP3000s @ 75%, so there is room for improvement on the next grow.
36 days VEG from sprouted seeds.
63-69 days FLOWERING.
9-13 days flushing before harvest.

SP3000 tent 3 days before harvest.
View attachment 18782310

Looks stunning.