Finding Dank - a diary of (perpetual) growth

[CreX]

Funny you mentioned another super crop method I like to use.... 

Squeezing the stems of the fastest growing shoots to curb stretch and improve horizontal growth and help the slower stems catch up a bit. 

[1000Hills Nursery]

GML topping method...

Puts the leading branches on ice whilst the other catch up.

[CreX]

7 minutes ago, Mambawana said:

GML topping method...

Puts the leading branches on ice whilst the other catch up.

Not so sure what GML is, but a quick Google search doesn't bring up the info that I'm looking for... 

I don't remove any leaves from where I pinch the stem... I just damage the cambuim so that the plant is forced to heal and not grow for the time being

[1000Hills Nursery]

7 minutes ago, CreX said:

Not so sure what GML is, but a quick Google search doesn't bring up the info that I'm looking for... 

I don't remove any leaves from where I pinch the stem... I just damage the cambuim so that the plant is forced to heal and not grow for the time being

GML - Grand Master Level. His topping method which isn't pinching the tops works to get the canopy even. 

When you get a chance check out his YouTube channel. They do a live stream every week. They on another level so lots to learn.

I also like pinching the stem. When it heals it's like opening another lane on the freeway for the nutrients to move to the tops.

[PsyCLown]

Looking good man!

How large is the tent and how many of the Fluence lights do you have in there for interest sake?

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[CreX]

6 hours ago, Mambawana said:

GML - Grand Master Level. His topping method which isn't pinching the tops works to get the canopy even. 

When you get a chance check out his YouTube channel. They do a live stream every week. They on another level so lots to learn.

I also like pinching the stem. When it heals it's like opening another lane on the freeway for the nutrients to move to the tops.

I'll take a look when I can

Alwys interested in learning new techniques that I can incorporate in my grow from very experienced growers. 

What I have found has given me the greatest drive to grow the best I can,  is like minded individuals from this site. Daily updates and constructive criticism is where it's at. 

[DankFiend]

4 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

Looking good man!

How large is the tent and how many of the Fluence lights do you have in there for interest sake?

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk
 

Thanks bru. its a 1.5 x 1.5 tent. the screen only covers half the tent (more or less). Using just 1 light focused on the scrog area. Curious to see how it treats my girls in flower before I decide what I want to say about it. Have any experience with fluence? So far I am impressed (but I am still a HID holdout).

 

[DankFiend]

I tried to get back to work this week, so had less time with the ladies. When I first started growing it was all so exciting and almost everyday of my grow I would find something that needed doing. And it didn't matter what else I had to do - the grow came first. There is nothing so fun as learning to grow weed, and with each experience trying to do a little better (a story I would like to tell). These days, I am a little different though. I am happy to just watch them grow, as long as there is dank at the end (growing spoils you)...And there is something beautiful about an untameable carpet of weed.

Speaking if which, here are the latest pics of blue cheese. this is day 18 (I think) since I flipped. 

Shit is getting interesting. First, both are girls and no sign of hemies (something I was worried about). They are clearly of the same phenotype, but one of the two plants is already more impressive (which is to be expected). but here is still a long way to go. I ran the nute solution a bit hot: 1300 ppm (although I need to calibrate the meter again). PPM in the autopot is 1330 so ill start topping off with water tomorrow. Although I haven't run into major problems I still haven't gotten the management of EC/PPM in an autopot down.  I've built all my own hydro systems so I was bit of snob about autopots - but they are really easy, labour lite, and just work. Next time I use them, however, I want to drop an air curtain at the base to see if it does anything.   

The Chewdawg are putting on a bit of bulk now. The OG Kush less so. Will post pictures of them soon.

On another note. Any suggestions for a a good pre-flowering pesticide for my outdoor game?  

Edited January 10, 2020 by DankFiend

[1000Hills Nursery]

What a happy garden, well done...

Strange how it works. My garden is bigger and badder then its ever been yet I too spend way less time in the garden then I use to. Then you just get those days where you just have to put in the hours. 

I'm starting to feel more confident about this blue cheese line with regards to uniformity. I'm still in veg and it doesn't mean much yet but all 3 of my blue cheese plants are exactly the same. The 3 triple cheese are all slightly different. How has the stretch been so far? Any smells been given off yet? Apparently it's a short to medium height strain. 

And btw thanks for sharing

[PsyCLown]

Thanks bru. its a 1.5 x 1.5 tent. the screen only covers half the tent (more or less). Using just 1 light focused on the scrog area. Curious to see how it treats my girls in flower before I decide what I want to say about it. Have any experience with fluence? So far I am impressed (but I am still a HID holdout).
 

No, I don't. I'm running normal QB288's though - was wondering what sort of coverage the light was providing you with and curious to see the results.

Your grow is looking good though.
As for a pesticide for outdoor use, well, Pyrol and/or Neem are quite popular and work well. Both will affect other insects and bees too though and it would be best to spray at sunset.

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[DankFiend]

16 hours ago, Mambawana said:

What a happy garden, well done...

Strange how it works. My garden is bigger and badder then its ever been yet I too spend way less time in the garden then I use to. Then you just get those days where you just have to put in the hours. 

I'm starting to feel more confident about this blue cheese line with regards to uniformity. I'm still in veg and it doesn't mean much yet but all 3 of my blue cheese plants are exactly the same. The 3 triple cheese are all slightly different. How has the stretch been so far? Any smells been given off yet? Apparently it's a short to medium height strain. 

And btw thanks for sharing

The stretch wasn't insignificant but I was actually hoping they would stretch a little more. It was, however, uniform across both plants. They are not tall  (one is seriously bushy though). A bit more stretch than I expected into week 3...

 

I   

[1000Hills Nursery]

@DankFiend 

Thanks buddy. Wishing you a smooth ride to the end.

[DankFiend]

Had to feed and do my weekly grow room maintenance, so got some pictures of the OG Kush and Chedawg. hint of a small  issue with one of the blue cheese, but it might just be the effect of topping off with water too early. Will resolve I suspect when I make new Rez. 

Back row, from right to left...OG Kush (clone of the plant on the extreme left) , Chemdawg, OG Kush, Chemdawg, OG Kush (2 plants are much earlier in their flowering cycle). Front row, blue cheese.. 

Below is a shot of the chemdawg colas from a few days ago

[DankFiend]

Grow Room Setup 

I am resetting my room to make better use of the equipment and space that I have, and to get it ready for me to pass on. So the story is I need to get the room humming before I go away - and someone else looks after the place. Anyway, before getting started I thought  this would be a good opportunity to show my baseline - which is to say, where the room is it is at the moment. Hopefully it can help those starting out get some ideas and (more importantly for me) allow me to get advice from the community on how to improve the space and fix the problems I need to resolve in the coming months. I was going to start a new thread, but as this is meant to be a year long diary, I decided it belongs here.

 

The first rule of my grow room - and it is really the only rule of my grow room - is everything to do with electricity happens above waist level, anything to do with water and such happens below. But as I am not good with rules (and they are not always possible to follow), there are exceptions.

 

The room is basic. It has concrete floors which is good because it means I don’t care about spillage and such (which outweighs the bad). it is also untidy and you can usually find a nipped joint and empty nip bottles laying around (I need to improve on that as well)

In summer temperature management can be an issue in the room, but I now have lots of goodies to mitigate high temperatures. [1 x plastic (low noise) 6 inch inline fan; 1 x standard metal (noisy) 6 inch inline fan; 1 x 4 inch inline fan (only used when I need to pump cool air into the tent on very hot days); 3 x rotating fans; 1 x Aircon (so far, hardly ever used)]

There are two tents now in the room and a small box for cloning and germinating.

And between the tents there is dividing cupboard that use as a counter top.

In the left side of the cupboard is nutes, and in the the right I keep dry resources, tools, and electrical gear. I have blocked off one end of the counter with a partition (with spillages in mind) - so that on the far side of the counter I have my main  power strip. i also keep a small fire extinguisher on the floor in case.

 

The smaller tent is old and fucked - its dimensions are 1.2 x 0.7 (its also not very tall). It has a 600w light inside a cool tube (the ballast can be turned down as well). The metal 6inch inline fan is in this tent. I was exhausting out the window - but the noise levels compromise the stealth of the operation so I need a new solution.

 

[this is where I was exhausting through, now used for the aircon when I turn it on - which is almost never]

Behind the tent is is small table for the ballast and power strip for fans, timed lights, and such .For now I am not using this tent but the idea is that it is veg tent. (Although I can also flower in there while the Scrog in the other tent is filling  up). 

Below is tent 2

The second tent is 1.5 x 1.5. I have a Fluence VYPRx in there, but I might try a Gavita 1000w next. The plastic inline fan is in this tent.

Like the other tent, at the back is a table for the ballast and power stip. I also keep a reservoir here. (Although when I do RDWC, the control bucket is kept on the side of the tent). I hit a hole into the wall so I exhaust into the next room where air is finally blown through a carbon filter. The room is in a back section of the house used for storage at the moment, so smell is not too much of an issue .

Any advice, tips, observations?

What I want to figure out:

Automate temperature management

Water chilling for DWC

Improve stealth by lowering noise levels (this means, amongst other things, a better solution for exhausting than out the window for the veg tent)

come up with schedule for perpetual grow starting in april with plan for automated feeding.

finish clone and bonsai mother box (add fan and drainage solution)

Edited January 12, 2020 by DankFiend

[1000Hills Nursery]

 @DankFiend 

Thanks for sharing buddy.

Automatic temperature control - the most important part of this exercise, does your aircon have an auto ON function when power is interrupted? If yes then all you need is a temperature controller with probe and a contactor.

 

My veg room climate control

 

My flower room climate control which has a few extra safeties to avoid high temperature scenarios in case of aircon failure etc.

 

This pic is a bit old and have since done a few more upgrades.

I think its time I share my full grow set-up so I'll start a new grow diary next week when I cut clones and flip with all my rooms including breeding chamber showing everything from climate control to drainage, how I dampen exhaust fan sound with acoustic boxes and any other little things that will be helpful to those that are as hungry as I am to take things to the next level.

 

[DankFiend]

16 hours ago, Mambawana said:

Automatic temperature control - the most important part of this exercise, does your aircon have an auto ON function when power is interrupted? If yes then all you need is a temperature controller with probe and a contactor.

thanks for this. I do have an aircon that would work with a temp control unit. I also have a cheap temp controller - which I might have blown trying to wire up. so need to figure it out and see if its still working. I will post about it next. also please do post something about your set up as I am curious about how you're doing your coco hydro op. 

Edited January 14, 2020 by DankFiend

[PsyCLown]

On 1/13/2020 at 1:21 AM, DankFiend said:

Any advice, tips, observations?

What I want to figure out:

Automate temperature management

Water chilling for DWC

Improve stealth by lowering noise levels (this means, amongst other things, a better solution for exhausting than out the window for the veg tent)

come up with schedule for perpetual grow starting in april with plan for automated feeding.

finish clone and bonsai mother box (add fan and drainage solution)

 

• There are many ways to automate temp management. Simply using an AC and having it set to the desired temp will work.
• There are those temp controllers too which work well and are relatively cheap.
• Chilling water in DWC is a bit tricker, although if you have an AC going it shouldn't be an issue.
• As for exhausting air, why not have the AC cool the room and then the tents exhaust into the room. The AC will exhaust air from inside the room, to the outside.
• Perpetual grows often go south at some point as flowering times tend to be longer than veg times. Probably something you will need to think about and see how you would like to run it.

 

Running the exhaust from the top of the tent to the lower part of the wall isn't ideal. I'd prefer to run it straight or have it go through the wall at the top - although not a train smash.

[DankFiend]

10 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

 

• There are many ways to automate temp management. Simply using an AC and having it set to the desired temp will work.
• There are those temp controllers too which work well and are relatively cheap.
• Chilling water in DWC is a bit tricker, although if you have an AC going it shouldn't be an issue.
• As for exhausting air, why not have the AC cool the room and then the tents exhaust into the room. The AC will exhaust air from inside the room, to the outside.
• Perpetual grows often go south at some point as flowering times tend to be longer than veg times. Probably something you will need to think about and see how you would like to run it.

 

Running the exhaust from the top of the tent to the lower part of the wall isn't ideal. I'd prefer to run it straight or have it go through the wall at the top - although not a train smash.

Agree that exhausting from top to bottom is problem. there was already a bit of a hole there so I extended it - also the carbon filter sits on the floor in the other room, so there would have had to be a bend downwards at some point (unless I put the filter higher). as is, this was not my first choice. thanks the advice about using the aircon to exhaust out the room. it never occurred to me. However, the carbon filter in the other room so it makes it harder. but there is no reason for the small tent (veg tent) not to exhaust into the grow room (apart from pushing up room temp). this way I should also have enough air exchange.

Edited January 15, 2020 by DankFiend

[DankFiend]

The outdoor sorbet is now (finally) properly in flower. she covers a space of about 1.5 x 1 meter. I have run out of space given that I have another plant next to her, so I am letting her go vertical now (although, ideally, I would keep tucking for a week or so more). The pesticide also seems to have worked. 

[Bos]

That is a nice canopy and she looks healthy. Gonna be good when she start going colas.

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[DankFiend]

 

Things are getting stinky . One of the chemdawg plants looks like I will be able to start flushing it soon. The other organic plants look like they have another 2/3 weeks to go. Might try ripen if I hit the breeder dates (which is soon) and they still don't look close to done.

 

In terms of the blue cheese, one of the plants (call her BC1) is eating considerably more than the other (BC2). although I haven't seen any signs of nutrient burn I am starting to worry that the nutes might be too strong for this plant (although the EC in the base of the autopot isn't rising and is usually close to that of the rez). While BC 1 is lush and green (maybe too green), BC 2 has shown a bit of yellowing (I wasn't too concerned about it, but I am starting to think something is not right). Buds are also far more impressive on BC1. the only other thing I can think of is that the ph of the pot is off.  I also run a rez high in n until the second week, so its not that (although I drop significant come week 3/4)/ Anyway, like I said, its still not a problem but I am keeping an eye on it. Also worried about the thickness of the canopy sitting just under the canopy. 

 

On another note, this week I started giving them Atami Bloombastic. I am saying I think its makes a difference, but that might just be wishful thinking

 

here are day 26 pics

 

Below are BC 2 buds

These below are BC 1 

Below bc 1

 

 

 

 

 

[DankFiend]

what's good for thrips in flower?

[greenkush]

4 hours ago, DankFiend said:

what's good for thrips in flower?

Predatory mites.

[CreX]

Fire

[DankFiend]

Quick update.

 

ran into some problems, but I am still relaxed and optimistic. need to decide soon what I am growing next under the screen (its between the chemdawg and OG Kush) and takes clones. 

 

Anyway, here are the latest pics...indoor and outdoor.

 

So these (above) are the organic girls. they doing okay. 3 of them should have been ready by the end of the month, but only 1 looks like it might be ready to chop by then. going to start them on ripen this weekend. 

The blue cheese are not doing badly either - although the organic clones I added to the screen just before flower are being outdone but the synthetic nute plants. looking forward to see which tastes better. Anyway, not doing too much here anymore but changing out the Rez.

And then finally, here are the outdoor plants. the monster is sorbet, and the dwarf (whose story I will tell some other time) is something called currylato (not yet in flower). Started giving the sorbet biobizz bloom and firejuice (freedom farms).  

 

Edited January 25, 2020 by DankFiend