Satori & Cheese In Roots Organics Under 2x 300w Led

[AlaskaJeff]

Planted seeds this morning using dixie cups 3/4 full of lightly packed Roots Organics soil. No nutes used, at least right now. I've been reading that the Satori is very picky when it comes to nutes and am strictly following the Mandala germ guidelines. Planted 5 Satori and 2 Dinafem Cheese. I'll upload pics later, but have built 2x4 grow closet in an outdoor shed. Fully insulated using 4" stealth fan pulling out the roof with inlet on the floor of the closet.

 

[AlaskaJeff]

So, complete my post here. First time grower. Built a 2'x4' grow closet in the corner one of our wood frame sheds in the back. Closet stands 6' tall, probably 64" usable interior height. Studded it out with 2x4 and insulated the walls with R23 roll and then insulated mylar on top of that with plywood exterior. Taped literally all interior seams with 3" wide mylar tape and foamed all wall seams and openings around air vents and electricity. So disregarding the two roughly 30x30 openings in front, it's airtight.

For ventilation I'm using a 4" stealth blower pulling out the ceiling of the closet. Blower and carbon filter mounted to the roof of the closet itself. I have 5' of 4" ducting routed along the floor of the closet exiting out the side and drawing in outside air through an opening in the exterior wall. Opening is screened to block out anything larger than dust particle, which I imagine should be alright as you can't grow outdoors here so just don't see much pollen in the air that will impact the goods. The reason I have the ducting routed along the floor of the interior is to hopefully warm (or maybe even cool a day or two a year :) the air as it's brought in. I'll have to get an infrared therm to measure the intake and outtake air temps at some point.

For heating I have a small ceramic heater that uses a 2speed fan and adj. dial therm control. Stands approx. 8" tall and takes up about a cubic foot. I've gotten it dialed in a bit where I can raise/lower temps between 68-80 with it, so think now I need to learn the fan controller to use that for temp control so that the adj. aren't so dramatic as they are with the heater. If anyone has anything of interest to add to this subject, please do :)

Lighting, or the "wtf, man" from all the champions of the high-yield out there :) Using a pair of GalaxyHydro 300w chained together hooked to the power through a digital timer. We'll see, but if I get results that provide me with bud that is as good or better than the stuff I get through the "retail" market, then so much the better.

Using Roots organic soil, no nutes other than what's in the soil and water filtered through a Brita. Our well is a nice 6.3-6.4 ph, so I really hope to not have any ph or nute uptake issues. Once a week, I'll also be using the local tea brewed down at the south grow shop for the mycho thingies and good probiotics.

This grow is starting out as 5 Mandala Satori seeds and 2 Dinafem Cheese seeds. I am planning on doing a SOG with the large number of plants and if room allows do LST on the cheese strains. Please, any thoughts are welcome :)

Well, hopefully that does for now and when I have some seedlings I'll post some pics. thanks for any feedback and for reading :)

 

[AlaskaJeff]

Oh, more specifically the soil I'm using is Roots Formula 707. Mixed with pumice, bone meal, bat guano, etc. Supposed to be good. ? Thoughts?

 

[Mr Bee]

Never tried that soil but it sounds decent enough.satori though.iv heard some REALLY positive things about that strain.bodhi even uses a cut of it in one o his crosses.cant remember which one.
mandalas a seed co i always wanted to giv a go but never got round to.
lookin forward to see how they turn out for you.

 

[AlaskaJeff]

lookin forward to see how they turn out for you

I am eagerly awaiting the fruits of our labors :)

Right now a bit concerned with the low humidity my box is experiencing, but very pleased that I can seem to control the temp of the box by a couple of degrees at a time by adjusting the fan speed. I was skeptical that it would work as I'm using a portable heater and assumed the thermostat on it would kick on/off thwarting my efforts. But, doesn't appear to be the case. As far as the low humidity goes; I'm pleased rh went up to 27% from 19% by dropping from 77 to 73 while the outside air stayed relatively the same over the same period of time. Where we live, when the clouds and showers set it the day/night temps vary by +/- 2-3 degrees.:)

 

[AlaskaJeff]

Uggh. Went to check this morning and no sprouts yet (2nd day) and the temp was a whopping 81. Set the thermostat setting touch lower on portable heater and closed it back up. Smoked a bowl of big bud, nice, and while partaking noticed the heater had kicked on by the sound of the fan. Thought, I'll wait until the heater kicks off and see what the temp is. This way I'll know what the "high" end is on this temp setting, noting that when I just closed it up it had only gone down to like 79. Smoked some more, nice. Got high as shit, nice. Lost a good deal sense of time, nice. Realized big bud's not bad in the morning. And. Still the heater's not kicking off. Ok, wtf. It's been a good 5 min. Open it up and it's 72? Smh. Any thoughts?

 

[youngjigga]

1,st zEver strain i popped was satori:-)lolwen i had no idea about indicas/sativas.soo funnk.i get these 4+ft monsters in like 3?weeks.if that.lol. they didnt get flowered tho:(

Never tried that soil but it sounds decent enough.satori though.iv heard some REALLY positive things about that strain.bodhi even uses a cut of it in one o his crosses.cant remember which one.
mandalas a seed co i always wanted to giv a go but never got round to.
lookin forward to see how they turn out for you.

 

[youngjigga]

mr bee is right tho. in sertain cuircles at least satoris a top shelf sativa/haze to i think.when grown well at least. thats what iv read! iv never actuall come across any.

 

[yooper420]

Your set up sounds good and looks like ya got everything covered. I used 2 300 watt LED`s for 6 or 7 grows. Bought a 3rd one for my last grow.
PS, how about a picture of your set up ?

 

[AlaskaJeff]

PS, how about a picture of your set up ?

As soon as I get some sprouts and I get the access doors finished (still bit rough). At least then we'll know the set up (and I and the seeds) can do something. Right now...?
Playing with the heater and fan in attempt to get temp dialed in. Not quite sure there.
Thanks for all the encouraging words!!

soo funnk.i get these 4+ft monsters in like 3?weeks.if that.lol

LMAO! Cheers!

 

[yooper420]

Take a look at my little garden, 38 days old today. It`s under "Behind Closed Doors....Yooper Style Growing".

 

[AlaskaJeff]

Got sprouts! Both cheese germinated over last 24.
Think I'm always going to have a wonky growing environment (stressful). On checking this morning's temp and humidity we're sitting at 24% and 70f. Though had swing of low 68f high 82f. So, still got some pretty good fluctuations and can imagine the plants will not always approve.
Pics of grow room coming as soon as I get my order of 2" velcro! gonna go take a pic of sprouts now.

 

[AlaskaJeff]

Couple of pics

 

[AlaskaJeff]

I have a question for the growers in the house; 2 of the 7 have germinated and at what point do I cut the light cycle back to a 18/6 or 20/4? I've got them under constant light now.

 

[yooper420]

Some peeps veg under 24 / 0. Others do the 20 / 4 or the 18 / 6 schedule. Never saw where it made a whole lot of difference. Believe it`s more of a personal preference. I use the 18 on 6 off schedule myself.

 

[AlaskaJeff]

Well, if the wild swings in temp don't kill them, it's going great! As of today, 6 of 7 have germinated and are showing first true leaves. Concerned with whether these (surely) guys and gals (and the guys say, "don't call me ...?) will survive though. Opened the closet this morn and it was a whopping 90. great. Turned the temp dial a smidge (note, it was 32 ambient at the time and for last 12 hrs) and then came back 2 hrs later to 59. greater still. Turned it back up a smidge and then hour later when it hit 70 I turned it back down a smidge less than a smidge, but still a smidge. I'm just going to leave it where it is and let it ride. The more I mess with it, the more the temps wildly fluctuate. Jazzed with the germ success rate though. :)

 

[AlaskaJeff]

So, I guess here goes a grow journal.
Have 6 of 7 germinated and as of 02 April could be considered young seedlings(?) as they were all showing good strong leaf pairs. No mutations on any, nice strong green color with no variation in color, and strong serrations and leaf contours. For all the temp swings, these look to be nice strong plants.

Cheese 1: second overall to sprout on 31 March; 2 waterings so far; looks good
Cheese 2: first overall to sprout 31 March; 2 waterings 28 Mar & 01 April; strongest looking
Satori 3: nothing so far :( 3 waterings w/ last 04 April
Satori 4-6: sprouted 01 april; 2 waterings; nice color
Satori 7: sprouted 01 april; 3 waterings though will keep eye on as this is the strongest looking of the bunch and don't want to overwater.

I rearranged the grow closet moving the heater into the middle with the roughly 12x24" tables straddling it. Also "shaped" the air inlet (4" dryer duct routed into closet) so that it points down a bit to cause the air coming in to swirl off the floor some. The fact that this air comes in between 32 and 55 will be a bugaboo though.

I have the plants in tight groups of 3 on the two tables in dixie cups (pics above) approx. 14-16" under the two galaxyhydro 300w led's.

I think I'm going to go with a 24/7 light cycle. I'm afraid that if I switch off the lights for 4 hours and that corresponds to a drop of 20 degrees in the box, which I see regularly, that I'll have outlandish internodal lengths and no real bud production. (?) If I keep it on 24/7 that might keep internodal lengths down at the expense of slightly smaller and less robust plants (?) Hopefully these plants all produce something good and happy and I run a more conventional light cycle with the next grow :)

More pics soon!

 

[AlaskaJeff]

Oh, each plant is now between an 1"-1.5" Cheese 2 is tallest and largest overall.

 

[AlaskaJeff]

Pics from morning of 04 April.

 

[AlaskaJeff]

Opened her up today to 67 degrees, so not unhappy by any stretch. Have had a run of slightly overcast and cold for week now and for most part the temps in the closet have stayed between 65-80. So, meh. Not trying to grow Cannabis Cup winner, just shit to get stoned and some perspective. I am REEEALLY excited about the Satori though. Heard so many good things and I just picture a more refined Trainwreck type high (less racy) that I love. And who doesn't like some good Cheese? I've recently acquired some that leans heavily sativa actually. It's pretty damn good. Grower calls it Cheddar out here and the exhale does have that heavy cheese taste. Anywho

Each plant got a small amount of water this morn, ~2-3oz though plants on left table received tad more. Think I had two micro climates prior to moving the heater to the center. One cooler and wetter, the other warmer and dryer. Would that explain the misshapen leaf on cheese 1? It's still misshapen this morning also. It was in the warmer/dryer clime. Meh. Either way things appeared bit more even. Going to get a fan later today and install.

Plants appeared bit more vibrant though and slightly taller. I did move the lights down a good bit. They were much to far away really. Probably 18" or more (smh). I just needed to go out there prior to morning dose to truly assess things :)

Didn't want to take pics as it was 30 degrees in the shed and didn't want to lose all my heat in the closet. Got my velcro yesterday so plan on "completing" the front entry panels this afternoon provided it warms up a bit. Pics coming.