New Here, Not New To Growing

  • Thread starter 420th Ave
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420th Ave

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Hi everybody! I'm here at the suggestion of one of the guys that works at my preferred local hydro shop. I've been a relatively lazy member of grass city for a while under the same username. I've been growing since 2011. I currently own a duplex that is shared with my family (wife and two teenage step kids) and another full-time grower and his roommates. We have all of our cards and stay compliant with the local med laws. My current setup on this side consists of two flower rooms of 8 tables each, using 4 plants per table. Each table has a 1000W reflector that is run open (not air-cooled/sealed). Bulbs are Hortilux Eye Super HPS. These are all run by Nanolux OG 1000w ballasts using NCCS and a DTU to control the timing via the RTUs. The two rooms are side by side. They each have 22,000 Westinghouse mini-splits for cooling. Scrubbing is handled by 10x39 Phat Filters with 10" Can Max fans. The rooms are run completely sealed. CO2 supplementation is provided by a Blueprint CGNG-4 in each room as well as veg. They are controlled by Blueprint BDCC-1 regulators with mechanical timers plugged in between (timers are set to 8/4/8/4 and synced with the light cycle to provide 8 hours of supplementation from the beginning of the day and then allow the plants to consume the CO2 so as allow them to properly transpire at night. The rooms are timed to basically flip back and forth (9PM and 9AM being the changeover times). Water is provided by two HydroLogic Stealth RO 200 units. For nutrients I use Xtreme Gardening's Mykos and Azos for beneficial microbes during veg, Canna Coco A&B, Canna Cannazym, Canna Rhizotonic, Canna PK 13/14, and Humboldt's Secret Golden Tree. Water is delivered to a 55-gallon black pickle bucket (washed of course) with 4 large air stones and a float valve to prevent overflow. There's one such reservoir in every room on both sides. Water is pumped to the mixing bucket via a Barracuda (Menard's house brand) 1/2 HP utility pump. The same pumps run all of my watering. From the mixing buckets I have Infiniflo 25-foot coiled hoses and use Ray Padula wand sprayers for feeding/watering. For runoff the tables are canted and have a plastic bushing glued in connecting each to a 3/4" OD (1/2" ID) vinyl tube pigtail that's cut to 7' long. These pigtails run to holes drilled in 3" PVC tubing run around the room terminating at a garden hose thread on the end that connects to a 1/2HP transfer pump. I have set float switches in each of these drainage setups to have the pump switch on and off as needed based upon water level in the PVC. Veg has 24 plants that is lit by two Magnum XXL hoods without glass (still powered by Nanoluxes) using Hortilux Eye Blue bulbs. I stick as close to a 4 week veg as possible. During veg the plants get topped twice, some LST to alter stem shape, and FIM'ed at least once. Upon moving into flower the plants are scrogged. The tables that I use are built by me. Each uses a washing machine drain pan ($15 at Home Depot). I then build a frame using 2x4 measuring 31x37 (28" for the short sides doubled up for attachment to legs and 34" for the long sides). These are attached to 62" 2x2 (96" that has 28" removed to add an extra support between front and rear legs). The bottoms of the 2x2 have caster wheels installed ($5/4 at Home Depot (don't get the wheels that need to be attached via screws as the mounting plates are too big to use on a 2x2, but the ones that require a 3/8" hole drilled work perfectly). The legs of the table work as a perfect attachment point to scrog. I use construction fence (also known as snow fence or hurricane fence) as it's cheap, disposable, can be cut/taped, and it's fairly rigid. I also use garden wire as necessary. Next door has two flower rooms set up in the same fashion, except only containing 20 plants per room. Inside there is a grow tent that houses a 35-site aeroponic cloner lit by a Pioneer Jr. 4-bulb T5. We allow the clones to get relatively big inside of the cloner (generally transplanting at 1' or so). Clonex solution is used on new cuttings, and after 3-5 days of the last clones showing roots the light feeding schedule of Canna nutrients is started, switching to medium feeding schedule the next week. After that they are generally ready for transplant. We also have a friend that lives nearby that vegges 24 plants for us (generally he uses clones that he got from us) in order to keep our stock rotating. For pH controls I use a BlueLab Combo Meter and soluble General Hydroponics pH Up and pH Down. For drying the plants are defoliated and hung upside down. The drying room is kept at 75F, 50% RH, it's kept dark (this room is also used as the "finishing area" prior to harvest, where the plants are given 48 hours of dark prior to harvest), there's another Phat Filter and fan, and they're simply hung up branch by branch onto skirt hangers (they have several rows of fairly beefy clips). Trimming is done about 36-48 hours post-chop in a TrimPro XL (except for a few strains that are too fluffy for this, in which case hand trimming happens). After trimming they are placed on drying racks to finish drying. Once dry enough they are put into 1qt. Ball Wide Mouth mason jars with a Caliber IV hygrometer. I check the jars daily for RH (I shoot for 60%). They're burped and checked each day for a month. Not gonna lie, sometimes demand makes me get rid of stuff that hasn't finished curing, but I never let buds go out with less than a week of cure.
Hopefully at least some of you have read this far. Feel free to comment or suggest things. I was this detailed because it's always easiest to just shoot a link in a comment when trying to explain your personal setup. I have put years of my life into getting set up to be able to consistently produce a clean and potent product. I'm always open to suggestions and I'm more than happy to explain the thought process behind the current state of my grow.
 
tattoojim

tattoojim

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Welcome to the farm.
That's a good break down of your grow!
 
4

420th Ave

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3
Thanks. In case you haven't noticed I'm a bit of a type-a grower. Also, we consistently produce between 2.5 and 3.5 lb per week, so apparently something's going right there :D. Oh, and current strain lineup is Sour Dango Kush, Gorilla Glue #4, Northern Lights, Blue Dream, Blueberry, OG Grape Krypt, Girl Scout Cookies, Purple Chem, Kali Mist, South African Kwazulu, Moose Tracks, Chewbacca, and Toe Bear OG. Some of those are hybrids that I made and some aren't popular genetics, so feel free to ask for a breakdown.
 
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