B8KD’s GMO Grow

b8kd · Sep 29, 2024

Howdy

Everyone. Been awhile since I’ve posted on the site. Have a grow room that I’m putting together. Room is a work in progress but it’s useable. Anyway, I started my first grow in there two months ago. And veg’d it that entire two months. The reasons for the extended veg had to do with setting up the automation system and learning to clone so that I could confidently throw it into flower knowing I had a mother and a few other clones to play around with. But I digress so back to this grow. It’s a single GMO clone from Archive in Portland. This is my first time growing inside, and only the 2nd time I’ve ever grown period.

So on to a couple pics of the plant…..

!

Height: 3’

Diameter of Canopy: 5’

Diameter of Stem: 2”

b8kd · Oct 10, 2024

Two weeks since I flipped to 12/12. A few pics. Not much going on during this time other than some stretching.

BearWater · Oct 10, 2024

Nice to see you around! That space is PACKED!

b8kd · Oct 10, 2024

Some more pics. Looks like we have some good stacking at the node sites and pistils starting to form.

BudRanger1919 · Oct 10, 2024

b8kd said:
Some more pics. Looks like we have some good stacking at the node sites and pistils starting to form.

Healthy girls man, very nice. Excited to see where this goes!

b8kd · Oct 10, 2024

Working to get my VPD in the right range. Shooting for about 1.2-1.4 but I keep running a little low then get it back up to where it needs to be. This grow room is inside my house but it does not have a dedicated HVAC vent. Which I may need to add so I can keep the temps around 75. Or I’ll need to add a little heater that I can tie into the room and have it automatically kick on and off to keep me at 75. I am using some AC infinity products and I believe they have a little heater you can tie into their automation system which has served me well. If anyone has some suggestions that maybe I’m missing, on keeping the rooms temp where I need it, let me know. The solution needs to be automated.

Below is my current equipment:
HLG Scorpion RSpec FR with a Telos controller - Currently have my ppf set at 800 going into 3rd week of flower.
HLG UV Bar - added at flower
Floraflex Matrix System w/5 Gallon Pots. Currently only using one pot due to the size of this first plant but the system is ready to run four plants on the next go round with a much shorter veg cycle.
FloraFlex 3/4 hp pump
AC Infinity Controller 69 Pro
AC Infinity exhaust fan with carbon filter plumbed to outside.
AC Infinity 9” Oscilating Fans (x2)

b8kd · Oct 12, 2024

I added a little oscillating floor heater that can be set to auto on/off with its own thermostat. With the two 9” oscillating fans kicking on and off every 15 mins, along with my exhaust van set to kick on whenever VPD falls below 1.2 it all seems to be keeping me at a sweet spot of about 1.2 - 1.5 VPD. Excited to see how she reacts to this change. I maintained about .8 - 1.0 VPD through the entire veg period.

Brotofsky · Oct 12, 2024

Looking great, well done! Really liking that even canopy!

b8kd · Oct 12, 2024

Brotofsky said:
Looking great, well done! Really liking that even canopy!

Thank you!

. Just finished tucking it again about 10 hrs ago. I’m gonna run outta space if I don’t keep it under control. I’m really not sure how much taller she’ll get but I’ve got less than a foot of vertical space left before my light will be way too close. Any advice is appreciated.

Brotofsky · Oct 12, 2024

you’ll surely need at least that foot in my opinion. You can remove all thin branches that are way below your canopy to open it up. Then continue to tuck under the scrog as they stretch.

b8kd · Oct 12, 2024

Brotofsky said:
you’ll surely need at least that foot in my opinion. You can remove all thin branches that are way below your canopy to open it up. Then continue to tuck under the scrog as they stretch.

I’m planning to give her a good pruning from the bottom up at the end of week 3. I like your idea of using the added space for tucking.

b8kd · Oct 15, 2024

Anyone else out there this OCD with their plant(s)? So this may seem like a minor thing but I’m seriously watching this grow close and any little change in the plant is noticed no matter how small. I want to keep it as close to perfect as possible.

Tomorrow is the last day of week three from the 12/12 flip. Yesterday I started seeing some leaf tip discoloration. On the very top leaves. It’s pretty small, as seen in the below photos, and is only appearing at the highest points of the canopy. As a matter of fact it’s really hard to see in the pics I attached. The last three pics it’s visible. But it’s very small. I’m also holding another leaf from farther down the plant and that’s what every leaf on my plant has looked like from day one with an over two month veg cycle. Dark green and healthy with absolutely no leaf tip discoloration. Until yesterday at the top of the plant on the tips of the leaves. Pretty sure the leaf tip discoloration is because I allowed the light to get down to 15” from the canopy for a few days, which means my UV light was even lower, only 12” from canopy, because it mounts to the main light above it. So I moved the main light to 24” and turned off the UV. Will let her rest a day or two with the light at 24” before moving it back down to 18” and slowly introduce the UV light again at the correct height.

The real problem here is I’m out of vertical height once I eat up the 6” difference between where I’m at now, 24”, and the minimum “flower” height recommendation for my light, which is 18”. Have a feeling I’m gonna blow past that extra six inches of vertical space by the end of week four at which point I’ll have to consider removing the wheels and legs on my tray stand and finding another way to drain my system as it currently goes out the bottom of my tray which would then be sitting on the floor. That would potentially give me an 6-8” but I really don’t want to do that because then I can’t move the table around in the room when I’m trying to get to different sides of the plant for trimming or whatever.

I guess if I had to choose a problem to have with my grow this ain’t a bad one to have.

The below pics show the start of some visible trichomes. They’re small but they’re there. And the leaf tip burn can be seen in the last three photos. You will still have to look hard to see it. I just don’t want it to get worse.

Brotofsky · Oct 15, 2024

Everything looks great. Take a breath, the real patience and calm is needed now. Some esthetic changes will happen now as the plant is flowering. Their nutrient requirements change as well as structure. They will continue to stretch a bit, but don’t worry about the light height. I’ve seen grows that are almost hitting the lights. Remember, you can tilt/tie kolas downward that get to tall. Did you do any defoliation below the canopy? your window for that is closing. It’s not necessary, just asking.

b8kd · Oct 15, 2024

Brotofsky said:
Everything looks great. Take a breath, the real patience and calm is needed now. Some esthetic changes will happen now as the plant is flowering. Their nutrient requirements change as well as structure. They will continue to stretch a bit, but don’t worry about the light height. I’ve seen grows that are almost hitting the lights. Remember, you can tilt/tie kolas downward that get to tall. Did you do any defoliation below the canopy? your window for that is closing. It’s not necessary, just asking.

I was planning to do a large trim from the bottom up today or tomorrow. Was under the impression this should take place at the end of week three. But I’ve been known to get some bad information occasionally. Up to this point I’ve taken off a little down below but not much and have only been removing fan leaves that are blocking bud sites, light penetration and any leaves that are in the way of decent ventilation.

I’d like to do a decent defoliation but don’t want to completely lollipop it like I see sometimes. Probably somewhere in the middle of that to keep my comfort level where it needs to be on this first real indoor grow. Any good places to look for step by step instructions with visuals if possible? Or suggestions you may have would be appreciated.

b8kd · Oct 15, 2024

Today’s photos - 10/15/24

b8kd · Oct 17, 2024

I did a major defoliation today. Didn’t quite have enough time to finish the uppermost canopy so I’ll get that tomorrow. First couple pics are what I started with today, a couple progress pics, and what I ended up with a couple hours later. Couldn’t believe how much came off. That one pic that shows the leaves on the floor was the first side. I removed four times that many leaves when I was done. Will post some more photos tomorrow once the three week defoliation is complete.

b8kd · Oct 18, 2024

10/17/24 - Pics

Didn’t have time to complete the defoliation today. Hope to finish up tomorrow and then let her focus on flowering.

b8kd · Oct 19, 2024

10/18/24 - Forgot to hit submit on this last night. Finished the big week three defoliation. Took quite a bit longer than I thought it would. Spread it out over two days. She was pretty dense. So many beautiful green leaves removed. I haven’t had a single dead or yellow leaf on the plant yet so it was really hard to remove so much healthy growth. The final tally on removed leaves is a completely filled five gallon bucket with the leaves compressed all the way down as hard as I can push. I thought for sure the plant would be bare but it still seems to have plenty of leaves. I made sure to leave no less than three big leaves on each branch. Hopefully she bounces back really quick and put all the extra energy she should have now into bud production. I may still remove some lower branches but I’m going to let her recover completely before I bring any scissors even close to her again.

This is what she looks like now. Lots of new bud sites exposed. I have 110 squares in the upper trellis and you might not be able to tell from the picture but just about every one of those squares has one, two or sometimes even three little branches popping up through one of those squares. I’d estimate about 200+ showing up top now. Trying to gauge what the haul is gonna look like but just can’t really tell. The waiting game begins. Can’t wait to see how much they’ll grow and swell.

And here is what my nutrient is currently sitting at in the reservoir:

And here’s where final run off was last night about 6pm. It’s lower than usual, generally 2500 or so, but I flushed a gallon through to lower the run off ppm because we were up around 3500 earlier in the day.