1st time Grow: 250w Red CFL micro...

[usualsuspect]

Scrog complete! Now to install it...

I've finally completed my screen for the Scrog! It took a couple of attempts (mainly due to impatience) at gluing it together so that it didn't come apart under the tension of the string.

I used some wood from my mums garage, measured it out so as to allow room either side to get in underneath it and used Araldite resin to glue the frame together. Make sure you screw in the eyelets before you glue the frame since it's far easier to hold the eyelet in a pair of pliers and spin the wood around to screw it in.

Use string rather than chicken-wire because wire has very little give to it and so the plants may end up budding around the wire itself, making it hard to cut away. Besides that, string is a lot easier to cut and be rid of when it comes to harvesting and it costs little to replace anyhow.

Here's a pic of my finished scrog frame:

And here is the pics of my two plants:

Plant 1:

[img]http://thcfarmer.com/forums/gallery/data/500/IMG_0164.JPG

Plant 2:

They are looking very healthy and the roots took to the re-potting, growing down and out the bottom of the pot once again (does that matter? Seems inevitable to me) They are also very distinct from each other, plant 1 having very sharp, classical leaf shapes and plant 2 being much more curly and messy.

Anyone here knowledgeable enough to hazard a guess at what strains they are? I annoyingly mixed the seeds up right at the start during germination! They are either AK-48, Northern Lights or Papaya (the third being the runt I gave to my dad).

So who wants a crack at being the first to guess?

Next up, fixing wedges to the sides of the box to drop the screen down onto. I was going to nail wooden blocks onto the sides but I think that larger eyelets screwed into the sides will probably be easier. Will keep you posted!

 

[usualsuspect]

screen complete!

Huzzah!

The screen is now complete! Rather than wooden blocks or big screw-in eyelets, I bagged myself some 90 degree brackets from the local hardware store. They were only 25 cents each and a few nails later they were ready to welcome the screen:

And here it is! The screen all ready to become a Scrog!

Alright! Now that I know I'm going to wait until they are ready (rather than going for a Christmas deadline) I can't wait to see this screen full of lovely buddage!

 

[4everhigh]

i doubt that the plant two curlyness or 'messy' look is healthy. im sure you got some sort of nute or ph problem going on. i am not experienced enough to tell you what i think it could be, but deff something is not right there. someone else who has multiple harvests behind them im sure will be able to help you out. look up nute and ph problems on the forum here and try to narrow down what you got going on there. awesome work tho thusfar. good luck.

 

[usualsuspect]

Iwondered that, but to be honest it's how it has looked almost from the very start and they have both had identical grows thus far, same compost, same nutes, same water, same box, same light etc

There has been no discolouration since the watering issues at the beginning and growth is good and steady... I'm not too worried unless that changes. Saying that, I'm a beginner so I am totally happy (well, obviously not totally happy!) for someone to correct me if it means stopping problems in the future.

Nobody confident enough to have a guess at the strains? I'm kinda hoping that the strain type is the cause of the difference between the two, given that everything else has been identical.

 

[4everhigh]

im thinkin a PH issue with the watering. are they the same strain? or diff? diff plants will react differently to different mediums nutes etc. whats the ph you have been feeding and what nutes, if any?

 

[usualsuspect]

Off to work so haven't got time to go into detail right now, but I didn't realise different strains required different nutes/water etc! They are two different strains.. can it be to the extent that identical grows can be good for one and bad for the other?

 

[4everhigh]

not ness diff nutes/water, the amounts will vary depending on strain/medium/etc.

 

[usualsuspect]

4everhigh... now that people have said that, I kinda realise that I should have a) figured out what each of my strains especially required before now and b) made sure that I kept track of which seed was which strain during germination!

Here's a couple of pics the day after their water. We are six weeks in now so a couple more and I'll start the flowering phase. Plant 1 had started looking curly like plant 2 (giving me a scare that I'd talked up some nastiness in my confidence to 4everhigh!) but today it's pinged back out to it's healthy looking old self with straight, sharp leaves (just a bit thirsty it turned out!).

Plant 1:

Plant 2 is also looking OK (ish) but the tips are curling maybe slightly more than usual:

Both plants have ever-so-slightly yellowed along the edges and tips of a few of the leaves. Growth is still going strong though... only a few more days and they'll be in screen territory!

With regard to the difference between the plants possibly being the difference between strain requirements, it's clear now that it's more important than simple curiosity that I find out which is which. Again, for those that haven't seen previous threads, they are either AK-48, Northern Lights or Papaya. Are there any distinguishing characteristics of any of these strains that could help me identify which is which, or maybe eliminate one of the three as being the runt I shifted on to my dad? Or do I have to wait till I start flowering?

 

[BluntMazter86]

Correct me if Im wrong, but I think that if your leaves are turning that yellowygreen color your plant has a N def. You should try adjusting how much you are feeding them and maybe how often to achieve what your girls need. Since you have two different strains, learn what each one wants as far as a feeding schedule goes. I know its cheap, but I use plan ol MG from walmart to feed. I feed .5 tbls every other watering. It works and it keeps my plants green, but I do plan on getting some hombolt grow/bloom natural this next grow round. If you are feeding them properly, then just check your ph. Walmart has a liquid ph test kit for 4 bucks in the pool supplys. Good luck:passingjoint:

 

[usualsuspect]

Cheers Blunt.

I'm just using a pellet that you poke into the soil and it slow releases the whole time. It's called Osmocote but I have just noticed that it recommends two pellets for pots 20-25cm... which... mine...is. Oh.

I'm using it simply because I already had it. The NPK is 10 11 18. You think I should double up? Or do you think I should try MG?

 

[usualsuspect]

What sort of difference in yield can slight nute defs lead to?

 

[usualsuspect]

Time for an update...

So the plants are continuing their slow transformation from leaf and stalk to something oh so more fruity. The yellow tinge on the edges of the leaves stopped in it's tracks and if anything has grown less apparent (no idea what it might have been...) and they have grown through the next set of scrog squares along.

I'm a bit concerned that the four main stems will continues to outgrow the lesser branches so quickly as to negate the whole point of having a scrog! The screen simply might not be big enough to accommodate them.

I'm having a little trouble maintaining temperature given this cold snap we are having. I need to put a higher voltage plug on the fan (it's only 5v at the moment) as the box can reach 100F if I have the lid closed with the 250W Red on and it can drop to 50F during the dark period (it's minus 2C outside!). That aint an ideal range I know, so I'm propping the lid open when the lights on (keeps it at 85F) and covering the box in duvets and covering the fan intake before I go to work (keeps it at around 55F). Is this OK? Can anyone offer any tips on how to better regulate temperature, specifically how to keep it warmer during the dark period?

Here's the pic!

The bud are beginning to form.. unfortunately a camera phone aint the best thing to use and this is as close as I can get...

I put an extra pellet of nutes in after I realised that, given the pot size, that was the actual recommended dose. Does anyone have any tips for this stage of growth?

 

[John Smith Esq.]

i have issues with it getting cold in lights out too, it was minus 10 here last week and been snowing every day since! ive tried heater fans on a thermostat before but even the weak ones make the air super dry, like you can hear your eyelids blink kinda dry. my plants didn't like that. but short of leaving the heating on all day its about all you can do on the forced heating front. and secondly they KANE electricity like you wouldn't believe.

but passively, you could insulate the box with something like thermafoil at the cost of having to vent more air during lights on (insulation makes it hotter) but if you can increases the voltage of that fan easily it could solve that issue anyway.
Or/And... stick a variable resistor (i.e. a dimmer switch) on the fan so you can alter the fan speed on the fly. you could rig a standard house light dimmer switch into that fan circuit pretty easily?

What sort of difference in yield can slight nute defs lead to?
its a fairly important aspect, getting that balance right is pretty key to getting a good yeild. but my experience has always been not enough nutrients is far better than having too many. and obviously there are some exceptions like how N def. is desirable before flushing and what not.


nice thread and plants btw! your rockin' it for all those DIY'ers out there Bro!! :RastaBong:

 

[usualsuspect]

Cheers

Thanks John.

The plants seem to have a nice spurt about 24-36 hours after each water, enough to make my eyes bulge and my mouth go, "Aaaw Yeah!".

Two more of the branches on the left hand plant have now broken through the scrog and the yellow tinges have actually faded, so not really sure what caused it.

I think I'm just going to keep putting in the effort and cracking the lid during lights and getting up and covering the box with a duvet as soon as the light goes off, try and retain the heat as much as possible. My wifes enjoying having the ehating on periodically so I've just made sure the radiator is up to ma in that room.. hopefully a range of 55F - 85F will be OK (been like that for couple of weeks now with no discernable problems for the plants so far as I can tell). Is that optimisitc or is that range not too bad?

 

[John Smith Esq.]

anything above 86f might slow growth a little likewise anything below about 41f will do the same. mine sit at just under 85F lights on these days, along as they get enough water and air movement when the lights on they'll be fine.

 

[usualsuspect]

mmm purple equals bad right?

Buds are growing at a lovely rate, the plants are slowly beginning to smell that lovely bud smell but I think I may have a wee problem. I don't have pics right now, but on one of the plants some of the leaves are developing a purple colour.

Pics following asap.

The little reading i've done seems to be split between cooler temps and the color simply being natural for some strains. Temps have been touching 45F recently during lights out, since we are having some pretty damn cold weather right now so it could be that... does anyone know if AK-48, Northern Lights or Papaya tend to have leaves that go purple?

Peace out.

 

[thebayisok]

Hey man I just wanted to say thanks for doing this grow diary. As someone who is hoping to grow their own sometime in the future this provided some great insight.

 

[usualsuspect]

I suck

Thanks thebayisok! I've been neglecting the diary somewhat now that I need a proper camera to do the buds justice. I'll get a couple of iphone pics up soon just to tide y'all over.

Purple leaves dropped off and it hasn't been an issue since the temp outside got a bit more manageable. Buds are growing nicely, largest maybe 4 inches long and an inch and a half wide. Both plants doing well, very sticky, very crystally... just need to stop picking at it and have patience!

 

[NeoMarius]

Looking good there bud, I like that your keeping to two plants instead of your initial three. That scrog ought to be thick as a carpet as it is lol. Make sure when the tops come through you weave them through with great care. I would get some guanno high in pk and cut the n alltogether as soon as you switch to the 12/12. N causes vegetative growth while P&K aid in the fruiting phase. Hit my ninja grow if you want tips on the soil in small places or the organic ferts as thats all I use. Again, Grow looks well built and girls look like they're doing well. Cheer's