Journal: Growing again after 27 years

[BillyBanchan]

Hello all!

My last grow was in 1996... Things have changed a bit since then.

Then it was a cedar closet, 400HPS, soil in 5 gal buckets with organic fertilizers. Now I'm finally getting around to hydroponics. We are working towards a goal of producing 100% of our veggies at home, so this will be a great and useful journey.

Feel free to comment, ask, and hang out here!

B²

____________________


GG4 autoflower from ILGM (20 seeds)

Germination:
Soaked in cup of water at 82-85° until they sink (3 to 6 hours). Then placed in between damp paper towels, inside plates, and kept at 78-82° until .5 inch radicle. Seeds were planted dimple down directly in final pots.

Medium:
MotherEarth coco/perlite 70/30. Also added more perlite to about a 60/40 mix.

Outdoor:
5 gallon fabric pot is a mix of potting soil, perlite, and dirt from gate post hole. This is basically a fuck-it-all experiment for fun. Will feed by hand after first week or two.

Indoor:
9 pot ebb and flow setup in 5 gallon fabric pots. Planning for SoG with LST.


Nutrients:
GH Flora 3 part series plus calmag

Water:
Sourced from our spring and filtered to 30 microns (fine silt). This water has a pH of 6.95 and an EC of .03 millisiemens (30ppm). No treatment other than filtering.


Equipment:
Marshydro 5x5 tent with MH FC-6500 LED, 6in fan/filter, 2 small circulation fans, and temp/humidity monitoring at intake, canopy, tent ceiling, and pot-floor level.


Notes:
Went from seed direct to final pot. Lights are on 20/4 schedule.


Targets:

Light (20/4}:
Seedlings 200–300 μmol m2s
Vegetative 500-600 μmol m2s
Flowering 600-700 μmol m2s

pH:
Seedlings 6.2 / 6-6.4
Vegetative 6.0 / 5.8-6.2
Flowering 6.2 / 6-6.4

EC:
Seedlings 400-500μ siemens (micro)
Early Vegetative 1100-1400μs
Late Vegetative 1200-1500μs
Early Flowering 1100-1400μs
Late Flowering 1300-1600μs
Ripen 800-1000μs
Flush 0-200μs
((Example: 500μs = .5 millisiemens))



9 Pot setup:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
(front)



May 26, 2023 - 1100:
Germinated 10 GG4 autos (9 for tent, 1 for outdoor but I stupidly lost that one while unfolding the paper towels outside, in the dark ) all 10 seeds germinated quickly.

May 27, 2023 - 1500:
1-9 planted with GG4 autos
Lights at top, ~250 mols

May 28, 2023 - 0930:
Started soaking 1 seed to replac
e the lost one from last night (outdoor pot)

 

[Trash_2002]

Hello all!

My last grow was in 1996... Things have changed a bit since then.

Then it was a cedar closet, 400HPS, soil in 5 gal buckets with organic fertilizers. Now I'm finally getting around to hydroponics. We are working towards a goal of producing 100% of our veggies at home, so this will be a great and useful journey.

Feel free to comment, ask, and hang out here!

B²

____________________


GG4 autoflower from ILGM (20 seeds)

Germination:
Soaked in cup of water at 82-85° until they sink (3 to 6 hours). Then placed in between damp paper towels, inside plates, and kept at 78-82° until .5 inch radicle. Seeds were planted dimple down directly in final pots.

Medium:
MotherEarth coco/perlite 70/30. Also added more perlite to about a 60/40 mix.

Outdoor:
5 gallon fabric pot is a mix of potting soil, perlite, and dirt from gate post hole. This is basically a fuck-it-all experiment for fun. Will feed by hand after first week or two.

Indoor:
9 pot ebb and flow setup in 5 gallon fabric pots. Planning for SoG with LST.


Nutrients:
GH Flora 3 part series plus calmag

Water:
Sourced from our spring and filtered to 30 microns (fine silt). This water has a pH of 6.95 and an EC of .03 millisiemens (30ppm). No treatment other than filtering.


Equipment:
Marshydro 5x5 tent with MH FC-6500 LED, 6in fan/filter, 2 small circulation fans, and temp/humidity monitoring at intake, canopy, tent ceiling, and pot-floor level.


Notes:
Went from seed direct to final pot. Lights are on 20/4 schedule.


Targets:

Light (20/4}:
Seedlings 200–300 μmol m2s
Vegetative 500-600 μmol m2s
Flowering 600-700 μmol m2s

pH:
Seedlings 6.2 / 6-6.4
Vegetative 6.0 / 5.8-6.2
Flowering 6.2 / 6-6.4

EC:
Seedlings 400-500μ siemens (micro)
Early Vegetative 1100-1400μs
Late Vegetative 1200-1500μs
Early Flowering 1100-1400μs
Late Flowering 1300-1600μs
Ripen 800-1000μs
Flush 0-200μs
((Example: 500μs = .5 millisiemens))



9 Pot setup:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
(front)



May 26, 2023 - 1100:
Germinated 10 GG4 autos (9 for tent, 1 for outdoor but I stupidly lost that one while unfolding the paper towels outside, in the dark ) all 10 seeds germinated quickly.

May 27, 2023 - 1500:
1-9 planted with GG4 autos
Lights at top, ~250 mols

May 28, 2023 - 0930:
Started soaking 1 seed to replac
e the lost one from last night (outdoor pot)

You will be hand feeding fertigation? How many times per day?

 

[Trash_2002]

Asking because your feed chart strength is good for 3-5x irrigation events per day, microdosing crop steering style.

If you will be hand watering 1x per day you could up those strengths.
If one feeding per day go with 30% runoff everytime and drain the runoff to waste.

This thread has some further guidance:

Brown Spots forming on leaf tips?

Issue popped up about 2 days ago Tents been getting hot - like 80-82 F VPD still 1.1-1.2 Lights MH SP3000 @30” 22K Lux Plants growing well, looks good except for this N.Lights Fem from seed - week 8 veg Coco & perlite - GH nutes 1150 EC 6.0 ph 1x daily I did a flush with florakleen a week ago...

www.thcfarmer.com

Cheers

 

[Harpua88]

Dude......same here. I'm ready to flower my first run since '93 or '94. I had a 400w Metal Halide in a closet and ordered seeds from Neville's seed bank. I won't get into it all here on your thread, you can read my journal thread if you want.......looking forward to watching how things go. My best advice is to have fun. Chances are you'll make some mistakes, just trust yourself, and you got a whole lot of experienced growers here for support.

 

[BillyBanchan]

Asking because your feed chart strength is good for 3-5x irrigation events per day, microdosing crop steering style.

If you will be hand watering 1x per day you could up those strengths.
If one feeding per day go with 30% runoff everytime and drain the runoff to waste.

This thread has some further guidance:

Brown Spots forming on leaf tips?

Issue popped up about 2 days ago Tents been getting hot - like 80-82 F VPD still 1.1-1.2 Lights MH SP3000 @30” 22K Lux Plants growing well, looks good except for this N.Lights Fem from seed - week 8 veg Coco & perlite - GH nutes 1150 EC 6.0 ph 1x daily I did a flush with florakleen a week ago...

www.thcfarmer.com

Cheers

Good catch! I failed to mention a key part... This is an ebb and flow system (60 gal reservoir).

So, yes... Fertigating multiple times per day, depending on plant needs and stage of growth.

Thank you for the heads up!

B²

 

[Trash_2002]

Good catch! I failed to mention a key part... This is an ebb and flow system (60 gal reservoir).

So, yes... Fertigating multiple times per day, depending on plant needs and stage of growth.

Thank you for the heads up!

B²

Nice! They gonna explode in grow I'm sure heheheh
Watching the progress!

 

[BillyBanchan]

Two quick pics...

 

[BillyBanchan]

Dude......same here. I'm ready to flower my first run since '93 or '94. I had a 400w Metal Halide in a closet and ordered seeds from Neville's seed bank. I won't get into it all here on your thread, you can read my journal thread if you want.......looking forward to watching how things go. My best advice is to have fun. Chances are you'll make some mistakes, just trust yourself, and you got a whole lot of experienced growers here for support.

Ahh cool... I'm heading over to check it out.

 

[Mikedin]

Two quick pics...

View attachment 1986817

View attachment 1986818

Looking good! Here to follow along!

 

[Harpua88]

Good catch! I failed to mention a key part... This is an ebb and flow system (60 gal reservoir).

So, yes... Fertigating multiple times per day, depending on plant needs and stage of growth.

Thank you for the heads up!

Fertigation. Oh yeah......

 

[Harpua88]

Ahh cool... I'm heading over to check it out.

You're a glutton for punishment......

 

[Harpua88]

Two quick pics...

View attachment 1986817

View attachment 1986818

Are the pictures quick...? ;)

I love it when people have floor reflection. It's like "take all that light..."

 

[BillyBanchan]

You're a glutton for punishment......

I survived the trip!

Pretty crazy the similarities of our histories... Down to the HT mags!

I had planned to breed and work some strains, but the wife got pregnant (it was mine!) and I got a real job... <Insert sad sob story of adulthood here>

 

[BillyBanchan]

Looking good! Here to follow along!

Thank you!

I saw your free standing PVC scrog screen... I love the idea. Wonder if I can make it height adjustable without much expense?

 

[BillyBanchan]

I just saw this auto thread: https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/so-what-are-peoples-thoughts-on-autos.149193/

Gosh, in my hasty return to growing it seems that I've made two big boos boos... Growing autos and buying the seeds from ILGM!

Figured this reply would be fun to revisit in a few months.

 

[Harpua88]

I survived the trip!

Pretty crazy the similarities of our histories... Down to the HT mags!

I had planned to breed and work some strains, but the wife got pregnant (it was mine!) and I got a real job... <Insert sad sob story of adulthood here>

Yep. While I had stopped growing by '94, our son was born a few years later.

 

[Trash_2002]

I just saw this auto thread: https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/so-what-are-peoples-thoughts-on-autos.149193/

Gosh, in my hasty return to growing it seems that I've made two big boos boos... Growing autos and buying the seeds from ILGM!

Figured this reply would be fun to revisit in a few months.

Autos can't be cloned, biggest disadvantage.
But for a comeback to growing it's ok, they gonna be just fine ;-)

 

[Harpua88]

I just saw this auto thread: https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/so-what-are-peoples-thoughts-on-autos.149193/

Gosh, in my hasty return to growing it seems that I've made two big boos boos... Growing autos and buying the seeds from ILGM!

Figured this reply would be fun to revisit in a few months.

Don't worry about things........it's often the bad stuff that gets highlighted and talked about. There are many people who've had great success with autos. If you can tweak a few things that give them what they want (they don't tend to like being transplanted being one of them), you'll have success. You'll find plenty of threads showing really nice autos with fat resin-y buds. And don't worry about where your seeds came from. Either you'll really dig the results, or some of them, or you'll spend the time of 1 grow learning who has some of the best seeds, and which companies are going to be a one-off for you. Let the results you see for yourself guide you. There will always be time to get some fire seeds of some of the latest strains, hybrids, even heirloom and landrace varieties which is what I have my sights set on.

You're bringing some solid knowledge. There are things you're doing that I'm very shakey about. EC for instance. That's something I need to learn more about.

 

[jadins_journey]

Nice my friend. There's a large number of geriatric growers here, myself included. So many similarities in our background and in our grow style. Thought I was the only one left running F/D, like your style. I've got GG4 from ILGM and it's my workhorse, proven itself crop after crop. I tried a crop of auto's, went south but the was my fault not the plants.

Look forward to seeing it grow!

jj

 

[BillyBanchan]

Nice my friend. There's a large number of geriatric growers here, myself included. So many similarities in our background and in our grow style. Thought I was the only one left running F/D, like your style. I've got GG4 from ILGM and it's my workhorse, proven itself crop after crop. I tried a crop of auto's, went south but the was my fault not the plants.

Look forward to seeing it grow!

jj

Right on jj and thanks for the reassurance in your successes with the beans and the method.

It took me about 3 months of studying to bone up and get caught up with the times before soaking a seed. The design and building phase is my favorite part almost.