Another Noob grow. Mag 357 LED in use.

[Medijuana]

Greetings. I was originally planning to post this journal when I got to harvest time, as it's my first grow and I didn't want to embarrass myself around all you pros if things didn't work out. I guess I've reached a point where things seem to be going very well and I wouldn't mind any feedback/constructive criticism from here on out.

Quick summary of my setup:

DR120 tent
Mag 357 LED
Airpots
SubCool's Supersoil recipe, with a bit more Azomite added, but thats the only adjustment
Two oscillating fans
Centrifugal exhaust fan on a timer
Bright white vinyl drainage tray on custom built tray stand
Aquarium pump bubbling my tap water between waterings (also serves as a humidifier)
ExHale CO2 producer
ScrOG being constructed this weekend

I am an advanced amateur photographer with a pretty good macro lens, so when things began to get exciting, I'll post some trichome porn. Right now, I'm in the relatively boring veg stage.

My journal starts on the next post. Feel free to whip me into shape if you see anything glaring. Thanks All.

 

[Medijuana]

Day 3 - Veg Stage, 81`F, 79% humidity, Light-both Spectrums 18/6

Clones of “Raspberry Kush” repotted and watered 2 days ago with heat sterilized soil, using SuperSoil recipe from SubCool (I had to sterilize as my first attempt with beans was a disaster. Some type of white worm/larvae ate the seeds after germination). Started with blue spectrum as I wanted to keep the stress low, but both spectrums turned on today. Minor growth is noted, leaves appear healthy. Mycorrhizal inoculant added yesterday. No pests visible. Light 15” from tops of plants - this seems best for optimal coverage, but will monitor for any signs of stretching. I may need to consider adding a second Magnum for optimal coverage, but I will see how SCROG factors into this situation.

 

[Medijuana]

Day 6 - veg stage, 82`F, 63% humidity, both spectrums 21/3 cycle

Ambient 77`F, 26%, watering was needed and has been done. Light cycle is up to 21/3 and it should be to 24 on by end of week. Growth is going strong, no signs of pests. Plant in L rear corner has some slight leaf curl at ends of older leaves, but no discoloration noted anywhere. Will see if watering helps.

 

[Medijuana]

Day 8 - veg, 71`F, 36% humidity, Both spectrums 24/0

Ambient 69`F and 27%. Began using the centrifugal exhaust fan yesterday (1 hour on, 2.5 hours off) and will be cutting back the cycling to 30 min on, 2 hours off, as humidity has been low. Growth is really taking off on all plants, but the rear left hit the supersoil too quickly and is showing signs of the nitrogen claw in several leaves. She seems to be handling it okay though, as her growth is keeping pace with the other ladies. Will be watering today, as soil feels a bit dry. Will also tackle some pruning, as some of the internode shoots are getting out of hand. While pruning, I noted a few fungus gnats. I managed to vacuum out two of them, but one got away.

 

[Medijuana]

Day 14 - veg, 79`F, 51% humidity, both spectrums 24/0

Ambient 75`F and 25%. Had to water yesterday. Growth is still going strong. Back left plant appears to be recovering from the nitrogen load in the supersoil. Pruning went well. I will be tying down the shoots today to prepare for the ScrOG treatment this weekend. The back right plant is being a monster and is going to give me headaches (naughty girl!). All have shown considerable greening of the leaves since the last entry. No signs of clawing on the new leaves though. I also stressed the main stems this week and all have already recovered with some bulging scar tissue. I’ve noticed a few more fungus gnats, so I’ll be attacking them with a vacuum shortly.

 

[urbanfog]

Nice! Love the clean look. Ill be adding some LED to my CMH next week and cant wait to see where it goes from there!

 

[Torched]

Awesome! I'll be starting my very first grow in a couple of weeks myself. I hope to learn a ton from you and others here.

Good luck!

 

[caregiverken]

Yep Looking Good. Nice work!
Keep us all posted with the photos

 

[jonnyshope]

looking good bro..
nice start.
good luck with the rest of it..
:)

 

[ShutUpDonny]

So clean and spacious! If you had that in NYC you could rent it out to someone as an apartment for like $2500 per month. I'm a slob, but you're really making me feel it! Looks like an ideal workspace - nice job.

Anyway man, I'd love to know more about your Exhale system. Does your gut say it's worthwhile?

And finally, I see that your RH is yoyoing a bit. Dunno what you're thinking about that, but just suggesting that you might consider a humidifier and another timer and try to stabilize it around 60. Not that your girls look like they're suffering, though.

Anyway, consider me subbed, LED brethren.

 

[Medijuana]

Thanks for the props everyone. I have 'high' hopes for this project. I do feel like I have my $*#t together with this grow.

Anyway man, I'd love to know more about your Exhale system. Does your gut say it's worthwhile?

And finally, I see that your RH is yoyoing a bit. Dunno what you're thinking about that, but just suggesting that you might consider a humidifier and another timer and try to stabilize it around 60. Not that your girls look like they're suffering, though.

If I really start to get good at this, I will probably invest in a 'real' CO2 system, but I figured it can't hurt to add what CO2 that I can. Since this is my first and only grow, I really have nothing to compare to, so hopefully that means I didn't throw away $35.

I'm growing in the desert, so keeping the RH up while maintaining an optimal temperature range is a balancing act. Even though the LED are icicles compared to HPS and MH lights, they do produce a little heat, and the tent is really good at keeping that heat in. The RH values can appear a bit jumpy based on the numbers above, but I'm not necessarily timing them with the exhaust fan that kicks on every two hours to keep the temps in check. I have seen that the RH quickly bumps back up to the mid 50's about 30 minutes after the fan shuts off, so for the most part, I am maintaining decent range.

 

[Medijuana]

So I finished the building a screen for my ScrOG grow. I think it came out quite nicely. I managed to thread the wires in pretty tight and they only have about 1" of play in any direction. Also, the height is adjustable from about 4" above the plants to over 18" above by just loosening the C-clamps. Let me know what you all think.

The shopping list for this screen over a 4'x4' growing tray:

3 - 10' lengths of 3/4" PVC pipe
4 - 90 degree side outlet fittings
4 - 3/4" male reducing adaptor fittings
~60' of 1/16" plastic coated wire rope
1 - wire clamp
4 - 3" C-clamps

Here's a good view of how this was put together. The screen portion of this contraption can be easily separated from the riser posts. Luckily the tent door opens nice and wide and it wasn't difficult at all to get in. Basically I just set the riser post heights with a tape measure and tighten the C-clamps, and then set the screen portion on top and push all the pipes into place.

Here are some details of the construction:

Wide shots of everything up next.

 

[Medijuana]

Here are those wide shots of the ScrOG construction I promised

Here's one with the Mag357 on. I had my exposure set to my accessory flash, so please don't think this represents the brightness of the Mag. If you're right under it, it really does hurt to look directly into the light, especially at the same distance the plants are from it.

I will definitely be ScrOGing a lot lower when I'm ready to start working the shoots up through, but for now I need some room to work, so this has since been removed. I don't have a whole lot of vertical room, and I have no idea how much the strain I have stretches when flowering kicks in.

Feedback is definitely welcome! :)

 

[Torched]

I'm really going to enjoy watching your grow, Medijuana.

It would be really cool if you'd use your photography skills to help a newb learn the ScrOGing techniques. I'm just gonna plant seeds and grow for my first run but would like to take a stab at ScrOGing my second time around.

I've bellied up to the bar, grabbed a cold one and a bowl of peanuts and will enthusiastically watch your grow.

Good luck and warm regards.

 

[Medijuana]

I'm really going to enjoy watching your grow, Medijuana.

It would be really cool if you'd use your photography skills to help a newb learn the ScrOGing techniques. I'm just gonna plant seeds and grow for my first run but would like to take a stab at ScrOGing my second time around.

I've bellied up to the bar, grabbed a cold one and a bowl of peanuts and will enthusiastically watch your grow.

Good luck and warm regards.

Besides using the FIM method of pruning, I'm also tying down the shoots right now so that they're in position when I'm ready to start feeding them through the screen. You can see in some of the pics above that I've used some hemp twine and black binder clips to pull the shoots down by securing the twine to the sides of the AirPots. This promotes faster development of the lower shoots and gives you more options to use when you start ScrOGing. When I have most of the area below the coverage area of the Mag357 filled in, I'll then begin the ScrOG process. I think I have between 7 and 14 days of this tying down of the shoots to go. After that, I'm expecting to be manipulating shoots through the screen for about 5 to 8 days, then I'll switch the light schedule over to flower mode.

Let me know what areas you'd like to see pics of in detail and I'll do my best to get them.

 

[Torched]

As I get closer to getting my grow going I tend to read more and more trying to learn everything I can. I'm getting to the point where I just have to stop reading about all the minutia involved and get growing. Nothing will bring all the info. together better than jumping in, in my estimation.

I remember reading about the FIM technique but had to look it up again. I got a good chuckle out of the acronym.

As far as pics, I was just thinking, kinda showing how you manipulate them through the screen with a small explanation. The proverbial, a pic is worth a thousand words kind of thing.

I'm certainly not asking you to go out of your way or anything.

Again, best of luck. I'm starting to get the itch really bad.

 

[Medijuana]

Day 18 - Veg, 79`F, 61% RH, Both spectrums 24/0

Ambient 74`F and 27% RH. Currently LSTing the crop with hemp twine and binder clips. Things are getting a bit chaotic, as I have many shoots right now. Growth is maintaining a good clip, but I’m going to need to see about some landscaping soon to keep things manageable. Last night I added the Kessil H350 to the mix to help cover areas that the 357Mag can’t reach. I haven’t seen any fungus gnats today, but my eyes are peeled. I’m expecting to maintain the veg stage for about 7-10 more days before adding the screen into the grow.

 

[Medijuana]

My latest update is above, but I do hope I can get some feedback regarding pruning of shoots at this stage.

The 357 Mag seems to be doing its job, as I have very tight internodes in all the plants. This is creating too much of a good thing though, in that I have more shoots than I know what to do with. I haven't pruned any yet, as my original goal was to get my shoot count up before I introduce the screen to the mix. However, because of the tight internodes, the shoots are relatively close together, so I'm not sure they'll all fit into the 4" spaced screen grid I've built. Should I prune every other shoot as I work up the branches, or just leave things be until I'm ready to start feeding them into the screen? I tried getting a picture of the jungle situation, but things are getting so thick, it was hard to get a decent shot. I hope this gives an idea of what I'm talking about:

Also, you may have noticed the Kessil H350 is a new addition. This light finished up its winter duties of providing supplemental light to my tropical bonsai trees. I couldn't bear putting into storage when I have an active grow occurring, so now it's in the tent covering some spots the 357 Mag can't reach. If anyone's curious about my g/watt numbers, I'll be sure to add the Kessil's power consumption to the equation if I do end up with a successful harvest.

 

[Medijuana]

Day 26, 82`F, 65% RH, Both Spectrums 24/0

Ambient 75`F, 18% RH. This will be the last day in veg. I know I may be flipping a bit early, but I have no clue about the stretching habits of this strain and I’m relatively limited in growing space height. I haven’t seen any fungus gnats in two weeks, so they seem to have gone away on their own. Growth is obviously rampant. I had to do some moderate pruning on the 5th as things were getting rowdy. Last watering was on the 7th, and I will be watering again today. I seem to have the climate control locked in tight, as my RH has ranged from the low 50’s to the mid 60’s and temps range from 73`F to 83`F. The screen was added to the mix on the 5th as well. I can’t use the full screen at this time as I just don’t feel like the 357Mag can cover the whole area. I will most definitely be adding a second Mag for my next grow. Flip to flower will occur tonight at 11pm.

 

[Medijuana]

For the experienced farmers our there, I'm curious, how is the growth of these four girls comparing to HPS or MH? Is this bushy kind of growth expected 26 days from clone transplant? I have been using LST and topping since they were about 6 inches tall, so that's why there's not much height on them; trying to keep them spread out.

Thanks for the input all. Suggestions are always welcome!!