spiritlevel: BB Cheese & 1.2kW-HPS

[spiritlevel]

Hello readers.

I'm new to I.C. so go easy please. I see a lot happening around the forum and it just makes me wanna grow more and more.

I'm currently on Day 32 in the bloom room where there are 3 AK47 in 15L pots.

In the veg room there are 6 BB Cheese. The history here is; originally 4 Cheese clones arrived 09/19/2007. After these 4 had been in veg under 600W for around 2 weeks, I took 2 cuttings from 3 of 4 of the Cheeses 10/04/2007. The 6 rooted cuttings were then potted into 500ml pots 10/23/2007. The 6, now, Cheese plants were then re potted into 6L pots 11/30/2007. As of today, 12/10/2007 the 6 BB Cheese are in their 68th day of veg since clone / 49th day since 1st potting.

I took a cutting from 1 of each of the pair of plants associated with the original 3 mothers from where these vegging 6 originate. The 3 cuttings were taken 12/06/2007, so 4 days ago, and are in the propagator in the veg room.

What's the deal?

Out of the 6 Cheese I will bloom 4 and keep 2 as mothers.

Out of the 3 clones in the propagator, the plan is to put them straight to bloom once they are rooted with little or no veg time.

 

[spiritlevel]

The Veg Dept.

The Veg Dept.

Let me show you my veg room. It isn't perfect.

It consists of a 2m(w) x 1.5m(d) x 1.5m(h) purpose built cabinet. It is totally covered inside with mylar. It has a single 6" in line extractor that is constantly pulling air out of the grow box. There are a couple of air inlet vents on the opposite side from the extractor. The space is illuminated with a single 125W 6400K Envirolite and standard reflector.

That is pretty much it. I am suffering low temps in the grow box as it is now winter. I don't think it will kill the plants but may well slow growth. My max min temps in there are 14C/18C. I wonder if that is enough to simulate spring weather?

To the pics.

Below: The 3 BB.Cheese that gave me 6 clones before they went in for bloom. The pic is of them 9 Days in to bloom.

Below: The 3 pairs of BB.Cheese clones from the 3 mothers in bloom pictured above. They have been in the propagator for 9 days and only 2 showed roots emerging from the rockwool.

Below: The 3 pairs of BB.Cheeses, 3 days in 500ml pots.

Below: The root mass of one of the BB.Cheese during re potting on Day 38 in Veg.

Below: The 3 pairs of BB.Cheese in their 6L beds.

I am yet to take pics of the 3 cuttings I took a few days ago. But that is the content of the veg room and how things have progresses in the department of preparing plants for blooming.

 

[spiritlevel]

The Bloom Dept

The Bloom Dept

The blooming department is a little more high tech than the veg room.

The bloom room, then, is a room within a room. Face on it measures 8'(w) x 8'(h) x 5'(d). It is 87% sealed. Only a 1 or 2" gap runs along the artificial wall at the top. There is a 8" spigot venting air from inside the bloom dept. to the side of the entry. Inside the room there is a 6" carbon filter ducted to a 6" dual cool tube which is ducted to an 8" RVK exhaust fan. The filtered exhaust is ducted through the mention 8" spigot.

The dual cool tube has 2 600W-HPS bulbs. The air inlet comprises of the following: 1 4" inlet ducted from outdoors, and a 4" heated inlet also ducted from outdoors. The switching between heat and cool air is decided via a simple digital thermostat mounted inside the room. This enables me to keep my temps in check.

That dimpled mylar is the reflective material used which covers all walls at the height of the width of a roll. The floor is completely covered with plastic sheeting.

I have the usual garden tools available and a shelf full of Advanced Nutrient products. I'm eager to commence blooming my next set of plants. Pics of bloom room soon.

 

[spiritlevel]

The plan

The plan

Right, I have 6 BB.Cheese in 6L pots which have been vegging for 49 Days in their pots under 125W from and Envirolite. I also had 3 clones in a propagator taken from 3 of the best looking of the 6; which is actually works out to be 1 clone from each of the original plants that I got as clones a few months ago.

Out of the 6 potted plants I plan to bloom 4 and keep 2 as mothers. I plan to bloom the 3 clones in the propagator as soon as they are rooted. The 4 will be soil grown, while the 3 will be put on a flood and drain system I recently created ~(pics to follow)~. I want to set of the bloom phase of both soil and hydro plants together. I'm running the hydro as basic as I can with no veg time to see how it measures up to some respect to a soil grow ~(a soil grow done using all the time soil needs without skipping corners)~.

The test would be better ideal if I could veg my hydro plants for the same time as the soil plants but that is not within my reach right now, maybe in the future.

 

[spiritlevel]

The Flood & Drain Project

The Flood & Drain Project

I may as well introduce my flood and drain table that will support 3 plants.

It was fairly simple to construct. I had a few of the items scattered about the plantation and happened to only spend a small amount on bits I didn't have.

Below shows some of the basic pieces. The large gravel tray, a couple of 14cm dia. net pots, and those expensive fittings for flooding and draining.

Assembly required some tools I didn't have, but I didn't mind purchasing them as the right tools means the next time I want to make one of these I won't be scratching my head.

And some creativity sometimes when I really didn't have the right tools to hand.

And to cut a couple of hours down to a few minutes, I ended up with this

Which now has a nice shiny lid. I only require a bigger reservoir for this little flood and drain system and it will be good to go.

I've been thinking about building a few, providing this one works well under basic conditions. I could really use one in the veg room to better prepare anything that's going into hydro in the bloom room, but one step at a time here. If I gain a little success with the 3 plants then the time till come where I'll re-think how my bloom currently operates.

 

[spiritlevel]

Another Look @ The Veg Dept.

Another Look @ The Veg Dept.

Welcome back to a mini update.

I've just been to see what's happening in the veg box.



All appears well. The soil in one or two looks like it could do with a splash of water, so I'll be mixing A.N Mother Earth Grow (MEG), Voodoo and Barricade up to EC1.2/600ppm pH6.4 and giving them 1L each.





The cuttings haven't shown any signs of roots but are still showing signs of life. If anyone can spot improvements that I could make then I'm all ears



There maybe a possibility that I veg the clones under one 600 for a week, but I'm not certain yet. I'm ready to bloom the plants in pots in all honesty too. Decisions!

 

[spiritlevel]

The cuts have now shown signs of root development. Another few days in the propagator and then they will be thrown on to the ebb and flow system.

The Plants are looking really good. I'm eager to get them in the bloom room some time soon.

 

[Rollin Face]

wow man i gotta say that set up looks really clean! Nice clone tray also.

 

[spiritlevel]

Getting Impatient!!

Getting Impatient!!

Word Rollin Face! It's clean in so far as I like to try and stream line things, but I'm suffering pests on every grow at the moment. I think I need to do something about the continual infestations... oh where to start!



I purchased a 90L reservoir for the home-brewed hydro system. A little bigger than I wanted, but if all goes well, then it would have been a good purchase as it could feed 4 or 5 of these simple trays at once. I've cut a couple of covers out of that corriboard stuff to make the res light proof. There is a powerful(ish) pump submersed to circulate the res solution. Their is a sphere airstone right by the circulation pump inlet. And I may add an aquarium heater if the required temps are too low. The Dro is good to Go.

To the growing...

Four BB.Cheese enter the bloom room 12/18/2007. Brief History:

77 Days since cutting
58 Days since first potting
19th Day in 6L pots (12/18/2007)









Thus far I have fed these ladies some Mother Earth Grow, Sensi Grow, Barricade, Misting with Formulex, oh and Voodoo and finally a couple of assaults with the pest control solution. I didn't feed then everything at the same time every time, I used varying formulas. I sprayed em once more with Spidermite Control and allowed the liquid to evaporate before bringing them in to the bloom room. The soil/coco(mix) was almost dry, but I didn't feed them until today (12/20/2007) as the grow medium is now much dryer to hold the new feeding regime.

I think they look nicely vegged. I've clipped off the leaves that appeared to have suffered mites, so they are off to a healthy looking start. The tallest stands at around 15 inches.

I'm yet to bring the rooted clones into the bloom room and get them on the hydro. I'm waiting until it feels right.

Today they had Mother Earth Bloom to EC1.2 with a dose of Carboload. Upon writing this I've just realised I haven't pH'd their feed even though I've already given it to them. I'm not worried. I didn't add anything to the feed mix that would have pushed the pH to alarming heights. Had I added barricade, which is a potassium silicate, I would be worried because very small amounts of this additive raise the reservoir pH by quite a lot in my experience. Next time I will be on top of things... With any luck it should only be 2 days until their next dose of feed.

Yesterday I put 3 stakes in 3 pots and tied a few branches down. A form of LST that I've found to be helpful in helping light penetration to the lowest bud sites. The last time I worked with this strain, I employed LST quite late into flowering when I realised the lower branches needed more light. This time, as I know what is likely to happen, I'm thinking ahead a little.

The 4th pot didn't have any thing tied up/down. I ran out of stakes and it's nice to see one of the plants untampered with to see what might have happened to the LST'd ones.

The 3 clones in the propagator will be entering the bloom room some time soon. I'm just waiting till the time feels good to stick em in they hydro. I think I should take another 6 cuttings any day soon to secure my next round.

 

[spiritlevel]

Bloom Update

Bloom Update

I've had some technical difficulties. I won't be using the hydro system on this occasion.

I no longer have a veg room operational at this time. I now have all 6 BB.Cheese in the bloom room.

Diary Check: BB.Cheese - 58 & 61 Days in Veg from clone.

Four BB.Cheese enter the bloom room 12/18/2007 Day 6 Bl
+ Two BB.Cheese into the bloom room 12/21/2007 Day 3 Bl

All are in soil/coco mix.

1st four had Mother Earth Bloom, Barricade and Carboload to and EC of 1.3 12/22/2007

12/23/2007 They were all treated to a blast with SpiderMite Control.

All 6 had plain water today.



Eager to get the current AK47s out the bloom room as they have quite a few spider mite. Started flushing them a few days ago, with any luck i can totally insecticide the garden and hope not to have mites come this time of the next harvest.

 

[spiritlevel]

Today I've give all 6 plants 1L of Voodoo, Carboload, Barricade, and Mother Earth Bloom to EC1.3/pH6.65. The first signs of pistil development is visible on all plants including the 2 @ Day 8 in Bloom. I see quite a bit of purple on the stems, which could be related to the room temperatures. I do not see any other issues with deficiency. I will likely commence Big Bud into the feed very soon at EC1.4.

 

[spiritlevel]

Day 10 for 4 / Day 7 for 2 of Bloom. I get confused with dates big time...

Things are still looking good. Today I shall be feeding them all 1L of F1, H2, Barricade, Carboload, Big Bud, and Mother Earth Bloom to an EC of 1.4. Todays pH weighs in at 6.67.

I definitely recommend vegging Cheese for as long as possible. I'm so impressed with their development so far compared with my previous cheese grow which I only vegged for around 16 Days. I don't think the quality will be improved but I feel the overall weight will be higher.
__________________

 

[Haps]

You can vaccuum the mites off before harvest, you lose some trics and leaf, but it can do a pretty good job. Get some no pest strips to keep the borg out.
H

 

[spiritlevel]

Thanks for the advice Haps. I just did a search for them, but i dont think they are for my garden...

"Ron Owens’ parents never imagined what would happen to their son after they sent him to summer camp in 1972. Ron was like every other teenager at this mountain camp in California: He swam, played sports, slept in a cabin with other campers. Unlike the other boys, though, Ron slept a few feet from a no-pest strip. Night after night, he was exposed to dichlorvos (DDVP), a toxic pesticide. Not long after camp ended, the boy died of a fatal blood disease—aplastic anemia—that the family’s attorneys argued was caused by the boy’s exposure to chemicals in the no-pest strip. (The manufacturer admitted no wrongdoing, but did give the Owens family a small settlement.) Today, twenty five years after Ron’s death, you can still buy no-pest strips containing the chemicals suspected of having caused the boy’s death.

I spend far too much time in my growroom to use that kind of product

http://www.hallgold.com/chemical-good-looks.htm

 

[spiritlevel]

The development of the cheese is as I expected having worked with it before. They have taken to bloom quite well.

12/30/2007 - They have accepted the EC1.4 schedule with grace and are asking for a second helping.. I'm about to give them some pH'd water to ensure no build ups in the medium.

I'm certain they will finish between 40 and 50 days of bloom..(I have been wrong many times, and admit it).

Temps are 24.1C/18C max/min, while RH atm appears to be zero but the max/mins show 54/31%... but I don't know as it faile to give the current reading...

01/01/2008 - Today they will be getting another EC1.4 dose of Mother Earth Bloom, Carboload, Barricade, F1, H2, Big Bud and Voodoo Juice. 1L every other day seems to be adequate at them moment. Some time between weeks 4 and 6 (or equivalent) I expect to have to water daily for one week. That normally happens when I use the 6L pots. I'll add some pics later to show off their development so far.

 

[spiritlevel]

You can vaccuum the mites off before harvest, you lose some trics and leaf, but it can do a pretty good job. Get some no pest strips to keep the borg out.
H

On the last chop I just made sure I removed every leaf and trimmed whatever was left with no mercy.. This method removed over 98% of visible infestation... There weren't any webs, just mites and larvae... brutal scissor treatment is quite organinc... I haven't rolled a joint yet that indicates dead pests are within the smoke.... Big thanks for the vacuum advice...

 

[spiritlevel]

Some recent images

 

[Dr Herbivore]

awesome man, i am starting a grow with alleged "big buddah cheese" just to see if the green house seed co. truly has transformed this wonderful cut into seed form. That vaccuum idea is so simple but brilliant also. Looking forward to the rest of your grow!

 

[voices]

hey man, you are doing your best with this thread. I was gifted a bbc cut and a cheese cut. so I am very curious what the results will be.

but can you plz make pics with your light of? we can see your good work much better this way.

 

[spiritlevel]

Dr Herbivore and voices, I await your grow reports with great interest. I'm having difficulties at the moment with feeding so I'll be curious as to what you find..