First Time Grow, looking to do it right.

[AmokNewb]

Nice good work friend! I’ll have to do a comparison on mine for today’s update. Not sure my flowers are that big. Maybe a white claw can.

 

[workngrow]

Nice good work friend! I’ll have to do a comparison on mine for today’s update. Not sure my flowers are that big. Maybe a white claw can.

Lol I'll prob try to min max a bit more next round to see about increasing the size more.

 

[workngrow]

 

[workngrow]

Caught a small spot of bud rot about the size of a quarter. White and fluffy. Immediately trimmed the part off and did a check on the plants. Undoubtedly humidity is too high.

 

[workngrow]

Wasn't the one with the rot. Hopefully this sexy beast stays unaffected. Should be ok.

 

[Mostlymooses]

Bummer about the botrytis, a good way to tell is if you see a leaf that is coming out of the middle of a bud start to wither and die, there is a good chance it has rot in there. Good luck keeping it contained, your buds look great. You really did a lot for a new set up.

 

[workngrow]

Bummer about the botrytis, a good way to tell is if you see a leaf that is coming out of the middle of a bud start to wither and die, there is a good chance it has rot in there. Good luck keeping it contained, your buds look great. You really did a lot for a new set up.

Good to know ill keep an eye on that. Just will be watching it like a hawk for the next couple weeks while these guys finish up. Buddy of mine came through with a commercial grade dehumidifier to help me kill the humidity issue which should keep things good moving forward. Had to do some finessing with that, within a few minutes running the thing threw a breaker. Taking a dab and mental dump below.

All in all looking back at it, definitely things I would change.

- Manage humidity better, smaller rig just wont cut it. This should be no problem moving forward now that I have a commercial grade dehu.

- Fill the system with less water. Easier to use less nutes and maintain ph when you can top off with higher ph'd water. When the system is already at or near max capacity this eliminates that as an option. Less nutes in water means less buffering against the PH down. Which means constant fighting against it as the plants consume nutrients and water. This was probably the biggest challenge managing the system metrics day to day but I think less water in the system relative to total volume is the answer there.

- Defoliate the 'indica' style plants a bit more for better airflow. The short squatness all of the buds are jammed up together closely. I dont think this would have avoided the rot in that spot as it was higher up on a cola. Looking at the 2-3 bushier/shorter plants I should have taken more off. This is also slightly due to the varying stages of plant growth. Being new I wasnt sure what kind of spacing issues there were going to be along with the various techniques to maximize (training, scrog, etc.)

- Plant stretching during seedling stage. While it was downplayed earlier, this was the first setback. Need the plants short and developing leaves. Not getting developing a longer stem, taking more time. Fixed this with my new run going now. The next run they are all at same stage of growth.

- Too much defoliation early on set back during veg stage quite a bit for the 1 plant. Less is more until its time for it all to go. Keeping nutrient numbers relatively low allows you to do what you want with the plant and avoid nutrient burn.

- Stick with the same or comparable strains for easier management in the tent with the rdwc. This really didnt have much to do with the nutrients themselves, more because the scrog net is complicated with varying plant heights. With the nutrient regiment going here, unless there truly is an odd strain I don't foresee any nutrient deficiencies as a result of the selected lineup. Really makes it impossible to have a nice scrog.

All in all the next set of 4 all same strain and coming on very fast. Much faster than the last round started out. So already fixing mistakes made round 1. Like I dont want to toot my own horn but fairly proud of whats been produced so far but have the hardest stages coming up in drying and curing.

Curing I went ahead and just bought grove bags. So once they dry and get trimmed they'll just get bagged and tossed in the closet for a few weeks. Will prob break a few out into smaller bags to parse the curing out over time. I cant be bothered to burp jars and while I like the automated burping setups that I do intend to eventually build, I feel like that just going to put more odor into the air as they gas themselves out throughout the day.

I will continue to kill this shit.

 

[Mostlymooses]

It really is a lot simpler to just run the same strain. Even with variations in clones it is a lot easier for a number of reasons you have discovered.

 

[workngrow]

Chopping first plant tomorrow morning. All Milky with a few amber trikes in there. Is a sativa so seems appropriate to shoot for earlier amber than later.

 

[Mostlymooses]

Good luck, I'm sure even with some rot you will do great.

Biggest mistake you generally see at this phase is rushing things. Don't seal your stuff up too early or it will smell like hay. A good rule of thumb is if you think you have waited long enough, it's too early!

 

[workngrow]

Good luck, I'm sure even with some rot you will do great.

Biggest mistake you generally see at this phase is rushing things. Don't seal your stuff up too early or it will smell like hay. A good rule of thumb is if you think you have waited long enough, it's too early!

Since I've got the time just going and doing wet trim all day and see what I can get done. Could be optimistic but might see a 1lb+ off this plant.

 

[workngrow]

Still wet trimming but nearing completion and they'll be put away to dry.

 

[workngrow]

27oz wet weight 1 plant

 

[workngrow]

Using moisture meter, pulled it drying after about 5 days. Locked it up in some grove bags and its just chillin. 1lb 11oz to just over 8oz of dried weight @ 12 pct moisture. So a half pound 1 plant in a 3x3 space in the 6x6 tent. The others wont yield this much is my guess. This was the best plant by far. The next round should be better though.

First ever harvest, smokes not bad but still a tad harsh. Remaining 3 plants to come down this weekend.

 

[workngrow]

All plants harvested and trimmed. Took like.3 days to trim what looks like is going to be 1lb 2oz.

Setup cleaned changes made covered the container lids Scroggins sooner. About to top the new plants a 2nd time

 

[workngrow]

@Aqua Man Ive been doing a lot of thinking in general about the growing technique to limit smaller branches and try to boost the yield a bit per plant.

What do you think about all the mainlining/topping many times and just trimming all the other smaller branches in between doing kind of a focused grow on the 8-16 main colas? I guess not quite lollipopping but if I have space enough for 8-16 'mains' should I shoot for that or just train/scrog. Does topping that many times increase the bud swell size? (Assuming this could also be grow strategy and genetics as well.)

This past round the yield wasnt bad, some plants smaller/some larger. The best plant was about 8oz, if the others had been as big/well done they would have yielded comparably giving me a 2lb yield vs. the 1lb 2oz dried im guessing its going to be. I would like to see if a 1lb per plant in a 3x3ft space is possible though I dont see that being possible without a major shift in growing strategy and/or focusing on higher yielding genetics.

I know that trimming all of those smaller lower in between branches had mostly deformed or uncompleted buds that I ended up freezing with the trim. I guess mainly looking to eliminate/minimize that to focus that grow energy on quality colas.

Ultimately how does this rate among first timers? I think I am ready to employ some more complex methods.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

@Aqua Man Ive been doing a lot of thinking in general about the growing technique to limit smaller branches and try to boost the yield a bit per plant.

What do you think about all the mainlining/topping many times and just trimming all the other smaller branches in between doing kind of a focused grow on the 8-16 main colas? I guess not quite lollipopping but if I have space enough for 8-16 'mains' should I shoot for that or just train/scrog. Does topping that many times increase the bud swell size? (Assuming this could also be grow strategy and genetics as well.)

This past round the yield wasnt bad, some plants smaller/some larger. The best plant was about 8oz, if the others had been as big/well done they would have yielded comparably giving me a 2lb yield vs. the 1lb 2oz dried im guessing its going to be. I would like to see if a 1lb per plant in a 3x3ft space is possible though I dont see that being possible without a major shift in growing strategy and/or focusing on higher yielding genetics.

I know that trimming all of those smaller lower in between branches had mostly deformed or uncompleted buds that I ended up freezing with the trim. I guess mainly looking to eliminate/minimize that to focus that grow energy on quality colas.

Ultimately how does this rate among first timers? I think I am ready to employ some more complex methods.

Well done man. AM is out for a bit, not sure when he will get back. But you did a great job on this one, just repeat it. Get used to doing it this way and you will get better bigger harvests.

 

[workngrow]

Well done man. AM is out for a bit, not sure when he will get back. But you did a great job on this one, just repeat it. Get used to doing it this way and you will get better bigger harvests.

Cool thanks. This round I will be doing mostly everything the same with some improvements and probably some more topping. All of the small branches and little piece of shit nuggets were annoying to run through when it was all said and done. This time will probably be a bit more bonsai-ish focus in the veg phase. I don't want to defol too much but a lot of what took a lot of hours to work through I feel like could have been avoided. So a bit more control and a little less just letting it go.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Most first timers get a few ounces at most. You beat that easily. Each time you grow this way, you will learn more and get a better harvest.

 

[Mostlymooses]

I agree, you have a lot to be proud of here. This wasn't a super simple setup either and you made it work.

Don't worry too much about changing things up. You have a working formula, repeat the process a few times and get the kinks worked out before you change things.

Also topping more won't necessarily increase your bud size, taking out lower branches/nodes along the branch will. Think of it as redirecting the energy from the stuff you take out to the stuff that is left.

Something you can do to help any lower buds finish that might not be getting all the light they need is a few days before you harvest cut off all fan leaves. This will help alot of those unfinished lower buds you find get a little nicer. You can also just harvest your bigger colas and let the smaller stuff sit on the plant for another couple days to finish.