How to get the best strength possible on a small scale?

[ApothicAcres]

So to make a long story short I am trying to find more advanced techniques for indoor smaller scale growing. I am growing medicine for my mother with breast cancer as well as for myself. I currently have a veg tent and a seperate area for flowering. Light in veg tent is t5ho, flower room light is 300w led. Current medium is a soil mix of mostly royal gold kings mix with a small amount of happy frog added in along with all organic slow release tomato food(package says it contains microbes) and a decent amount of worm castings top dressed. With each watering I have been mixing and feeding general hydro florablend, floranova bloom, mg tomato food as well as epsom salt. I plan on cutting out the mg tomato food soon as well as the flornovabloom in order to cut out excessive nitrogen, then switch over to roots organics hpk with earth juice molasses, a high k seaweed extract plus dark brown sugar and organic agave nectar. Strains I am currently running are - Dark Cherry, Hindu Alien, Maui Sunrise, Apple Pancakes, Purple Cookies, and Peanut Butter Burst from equilibrium genetics. Selfed Wild Thailand seeds from bagseed. Og Kush seeds gifted to me from my mmj doctor. As well as few unknown in house crosses i started randomly. Anybody with some helpful comments lets hear it. Any ways to increase quality(thc percentage+terpene profile) and quantity at the same time? Any tips to ripen up faster? Densing up? Also sorry for the lengthy post.

 

[yetanother]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that ripening time is strain-dependant and can't really be sped up.

I've been trying to start with as rich a soil as possible. I see your mix includes stuff like guano, bone meal and dolomite. I also use cow manure, castor meal, and bokashi (bokashi is key for improving microbiota, especially when coupled with humus). Let the soil rest for at least 1-2 weeks after mixing everything, as it will generate enough heat to cook any roots you put in it.

This also allows me to cut back on fertilizers a bit unless the plants ask for it (and if the soil is rich enough, they hardly ever do).

During flowering I introduce some dried banana peel ashes, plus some fermented banana peel fertilizer tea every two weeks, for that extra P/K boost.

Anyway, this is all pretty subjective, just some ideas, I know others use entirely different mixes and amendments with great results. Ultimately it's about finding a recipe that works best for you. The plants themselves don't need much!

 

[Harpua88]

So to make a long story short I am trying to find more advanced techniques for indoor smaller scale growing. I am growing medicine for my mother with breast cancer as well as for myself. I currently have a veg tent and a seperate area for flowering. Light in veg tent is t5ho, flower room light is 300w led. Current medium is a soil mix of mostly royal gold kings mix with a small amount of happy frog added in along with all organic slow release tomato food(package says it contains microbes) and a decent amount of worm castings top dressed. With each watering I have been mixing and feeding general hydro florablend, floranova bloom, mg tomato food as well as epsom salt. I plan on cutting out the mg tomato food soon as well as the flornovabloom in order to cut out excessive nitrogen, then switch over to roots organics hpk with earth juice molasses, a high k seaweed extract plus dark brown sugar and organic agave nectar. Strains I am currently running are - Dark Cherry, Hindu Alien, Maui Sunrise, Apple Pancakes, Purple Cookies, and Peanut Butter Burst from equilibrium genetics. Selfed Wild Thailand seeds from bagseed. Og Kush seeds gifted to me from my mmj doctor. As well as few unknown in house crosses i started randomly. Anybody with some helpful comments lets hear it. Any ways to increase quality(thc percentage+terpene profile) and quantity at the same time? Any tips to ripen up faster? Densing up? Also sorry for the lengthy post.

My eye is on the lights, but tell us more about your setup and approach, and could you show us pictures? You've mentioned......11 varieties? What kind of space(s) do you have? That's probably a lot to expect from those lights. How quickly are you looking to flower/what height? To run all of those plants with those lights, it seems like you either have to flower very quickly, which will limit production, or you're asking a lot from your lights over too large a space, which will limit production. Your soil seems a bit.....complex. It might all make for an excellent mix, I don't know....

The best way to maximize quality is to have good genetics, give them the most ideal environment, harvest at the right time, when they're fully matured, and cure properly. Quantity is also about environment, method, genetics, how big they are when you flower, but back to the lights you're using and your growing space......roots space....

Giving them an ideal environment with rich, nutritious soil bumps up against having enough light energy to match it all. There might be a number of things you can do to improve your system, but it might really come down to upgrading your lights. Tell us more about your setup. You're doing right by your mom and I hope everything goes well for her and you. I lost my mom a few years ago, and my wife survived kidney cancer around the same time. This is a good place with a lot of knowledgeable people that can give you solid advice. Let's get you a system you want and deserve.

.....I looked at the pictures from your previous grow, you are doing well for your limited space and light. If you're running all clones that will help too. It seems like you're trying to squeeze many more plants in this time, it'll be interesting to hear/see more about your approach and goals.

 

[Scrogger2190]

As the guy before me I looked at your pics of your previous grow and your plants look healthy. Which tells me if you want more out of them then you need to seek out better genetics. If you have healthy plants and they aren't the best. That's a genetic issue

 

[Harpua88]

As the guy before me I looked at your pics of your previous grow and your plants look healthy. Which tells me if you want more out of them then you need to seek out better genetics. If you have healthy plants and they aren't the best. That's a genetic issue

So far we can only go by the names of the varieties.....and equilibrium genetics. Genetics is where it starts, but I think if Apothic wants more from more.....those lights. Maybe they can tell us more about the lights and size of the space. I don't know if they ran 11+ varieties in those previous pictures.....

 

[Scrogger2190]

I'm just saying in the beginning obviously there's gonna be mistakes but once you get past most of those mistakes and you still are disappointed from a healthy plant, then it's time to seek better genetics. I had no idea that genetics was the problem for me until I had cuts come through that made my stuff look like trash.

 

[Dummy buds]

Genetics are #1 in regards to potency and quality. Next will be lighting. Your light isn't very powerful. You need to look for foot print, and umol output. Then your nutrients will be next. You have quite a mix of nutrients, in my opinion, using all that at one time is going to give you wild PH swings, and nute lock out. And depending in what stage you're at, you don't need all of that. If you want them to grow faster, look into hydroponics, they grow much faster, and generally yield more. And it's much easier than dirt grows

 

[Paleosoul]

So to make a long story short I am trying to find more advanced techniques for indoor smaller scale growing. I am growing medicine for my mother with breast cancer as well as for myself. I currently have a veg tent and a seperate area for flowering. Light in veg tent is t5ho, flower room light is 300w led. Current medium is a soil mix of mostly royal gold kings mix with a small amount of happy frog added in along with all organic slow release tomato food(package says it contains microbes) and a decent amount of worm castings top dressed. With each watering I have been mixing and feeding general hydro florablend, floranova bloom, mg tomato food as well as epsom salt. I plan on cutting out the mg tomato food soon as well as the flornovabloom in order to cut out excessive nitrogen, then switch over to roots organics hpk with earth juice molasses, a high k seaweed extract plus dark brown sugar and organic agave nectar. Strains I am currently running are - Dark Cherry, Hindu Alien, Maui Sunrise, Apple Pancakes, Purple Cookies, and Peanut Butter Burst from equilibrium genetics. Selfed Wild Thailand seeds from bagseed. Og Kush seeds gifted to me from my mmj doctor. As well as few unknown in house crosses i started randomly. Anybody with some helpful comments lets hear it. Any ways to increase quality(thc percentage+terpene profile) and quantity at the same time? Any tips to ripen up faster? Densing up? Also sorry for the lengthy post.

If you grow plants TO MATURITY, they will be as potent as their genetics allow.

Proper growing techniques and nutrition give you yield, growing to maturity gives you the potency. I know this because I have fucked up grows before -- from my own ignorance, mostly. But even in fucked up grows which damaged yield, potency was always up there, provided I wasn't impatient in bringing them to proper maturity.

 

[ApothicAcres]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that ripening time is strain-dependant and can't really be sped up.

I've been trying to start with as rich a soil as possible. I see your mix includes stuff like guano, bone meal and dolomite. I also use cow manure, castor meal, and bokashi (bokashi is key for improving microbiota, especially when coupled with humus). Let the soil rest for at least 1-2 weeks after mixing everything, as it will generate enough heat to cook any roots you put in it.

This also allows me to cut back on fertilizers a bit unless the plants ask for it (and if the soil is rich enough, they hardly ever do).

During flowering I introduce some dried banana peel ashes, plus some fermented banana peel fertilizer tea every two weeks, for that extra P/K boost.

Anyway, this is all pretty subjective, just some ideas, I know others use entirely different mixes and amendments with great results. Ultimately it's about finding a recipe that works best for you. The plants themselves don't need much!

Awesome bit of info there. I myself havnt heard of burning the banana peels into ashes first before adding them, that must make it more readily available. Also great tip on the bokashi thank you

 

[ApothicAcres]

My eye is on the lights, but tell us more about your setup and approach, and could you show us pictures? You've mentioned......11 varieties? What kind of space(s) do you have? That's probably a lot to expect from those lights. How quickly are you looking to flower/what height? To run all of those plants with those lights, it seems like you either have to flower very quickly, which will limit production, or you're asking a lot from your lights over too large a space, which will limit production. Your soil seems a bit.....complex. It might all make for an excellent mix, I don't know....

The best way to maximize quality is to have good genetics, give them the most ideal environment, harvest at the right time, when they're fully matured, and cure properly. Quantity is also about environment, method, genetics, how big they are when you flower, but back to the lights you're using and your growing space......roots space....

Giving them an ideal environment with rich, nutritious soil bumps up against having enough light energy to match it all. There might be a number of things you can do to improve your system, but it might really come down to upgrading your lights. Tell us more about your setup. You're doing right by your mom and I hope everything goes well for her and you. I lost my mom a few years ago, and my wife survived kidney cancer around the same time. This is a good place with a lot of knowledgeable people that can give you solid advice. Let's get you a system you want and deserve.

.....I looked at the pictures from your previous grow, you are doing well for your limited space and light. If you're running all clones that will help too. It seems like you're trying to squeeze many more plants in this time, it'll be interesting to hear/see more about your approach and goals.

Ill try to post pictures later when lights are on, they have been a bit abused up until recently. Because i have to move them eventually for the transition to bloom i have only been topping with slight LST, i plan on doing some type of trellis net support soon but not sure how i want it setup yet, individually or all across. Im not too concerned about the strength of the light i have ive seen a few people do some awesome grows with the same. Yea ever since I got the news shes been doing a regimen on and off of RSO oil, cbd/cbg products, myrrh and frankincense resins, as well as medicinal mushrooms such as turkey tail, lions mane, chaga and reishi. (I believe i spelled all those correctly) Paul Stamets mother was in the almost exact same position my mother is in. So far there has been a huge difference. An unheard of difference according to her doctors. Her blood test recently she was told they couldnt even tell she was on chemotherapy. The tumors had massively broken up from only one treatment and her lymph nodes had gone entirely back to normal from the looks of things.

 

[ApothicAcres]

As the guy before me I looked at your pics of your previous grow and your plants look healthy. Which tells me if you want more out of them then you need to seek out better genetics. If you have healthy plants and they aren't the best. That's a genetic issue

they are satisfying, i believe i may have had environment issues from me not being able to be ontop of everything and juggle life. A big reason why i want to transition towards a more automated grow

 

[ApothicAcres]

Genetics are #1 in regards to potency and quality. Next will be lighting. Your light isn't very powerful. You need to look for foot print, and umol output. Then your nutrients will be next. You have quite a mix of nutrients, in my opinion, using all that at one time is going to give you wild PH swings, and nute lock out. And depending in what stage you're at, you don't need all of that. If you want them to grow faster, look into hydroponics, they grow much faster, and generally yield more. And it's much easier than dirt grows

I have actually been considering going towards a coco or dwc hydro setup

 

[ApothicAcres]

If you grow plants TO MATURITY, they will be as potent as their genetics allow.

Proper growing techniques and nutrition give you yield, growing to maturity gives you the potency. I know this because I have fucked up grows before -- from my own ignorance, mostly. But even in fucked up grows which damaged yield, potency was always up there, provided I wasn't impatient in bringing them to proper maturity.

I know what you mean. My first grow back at it by myself i harvested a bit too early. Very much a soaring head high when they finally did cure out though.