The Crystal Palace is back, now with a Spiderfarmer SE5000.

[GrowHobo]

That is likely the UV. That means extra trichs.

Correct. I believe it’s on the 3000 and 5000 but not the 7000 which is weird

 

[Dirtbag]

Well, I'm making such good progress I'm gonna keep on. Getting the slabs soaked.
And another couple beers obviously.

 

[Dirtbag]

 

[Dirtbag]

Game time. Still got those wires to deal with, but I wanted to get these plants on slab asap.
We're growing now.
Starting with 400w of MH and the SF4000 dialed to 40% at 4 feet. Gonna leave it like this for the first 2 or 3 days while the roots get down into the blocks. I won't be watering for the next 2 days either. By the weekend I will start daily feeding and increase the light intensity a bit

 

[tobh]

woohoo! let's fuckin go!

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

You're dancin now.

 

[Dirtbag]

 

[Dirtbag]

Their taking to their new home quite nicely. Already root locked on to the slabs. I might even say, it looks like they continued growing through the transplant. They look bigger than they did yesterday to my eye.. I can't say enough good things about this block on slab technique, so many benefits including zero transplant shock right from rooter to block, block to slab.

Saturday I'll top them so they should develop 8-10 branches or so each, which I will double again in about 10-14 days by topping the branches. Aiming for 16 main tops per plant. That will give me roughly 250 or so tops. At 4 sqft per plant, each top will have its own 6x6" growing area. In theory.
A few days before I flip I'll strip each branch to the top node, and 3 weeks after flip I'll do an aggressive defoliation, not complete, but aggressive.

Current room conditions, 77-82f, 55-60RH, light 5mph breeze from the southwest. Perfect day for stretching out those leaves and branches.

 

[Johnlandy420]

Their taking to their new home quite nicely. Already root locked on to the slabs. I might even say, it looks like they continued growing through the transplant. They look bigger than they did yesterday to my eye.. I can't say enough good things about this block on slab technique, so many benefits including zero transplant shock right from rooter to block, block to slab.

Saturday I'll top them so they should develop 8-10 branches or so each, which I will double again in about 10-14 days by topping the branches. Aiming for 16 main tops per plant. That will give me roughly 250 or so tops. At 4 sqft per plant, each top will have its own 6x6" growing area. In theory.
A few days before I flip I'll strip each branch to the top node, and 3 weeks after flip I'll do an aggressive defoliation, not complete, but aggressive.

Current room conditions, 77-82f, 55-60RH, light 5mph breeze from the southwest. Perfect day for stretching out those leaves and branches.
View attachment 1187625View attachment 1187626

As a new grower can I ask you what stage would you consider your rooted clones? Like how many weeks in veg? I'm trying to better understand environmental needs and vpd.. Since they are rooted and the roots are expanding, there is no longer a need for that 70-75% humidity?
Thx

 

[Dirtbag]

As a new grower can I ask you what stage would you consider your rooted clones? Like how many weeks in veg? I'm trying to better understand environmental needs and vpd.. Since they are rooted and the roots are expanding, there is no longer a need for that 70-75% humidity?
Thx

I'll try and make it as simple as possible, I break the grow down into 6 loosely defined sections.

1: Rooting phase. When clones are in the dome waiting for roots to pop. I aim for 85%+ humidity and a temp of 75-80f. Last about 2 weeks.

2: Nursery phase. Also called the preveg stage, this is after rooted cuts are transplanted to their first home, either a 3" block in my case, or a red solo cup, or small Nursery pot etc. I aim for 65-70% humidity and temp of 75-80f. I keep them under pretty low light here, usually T5HO flourescents. This stage lasts until the starting container is well rooted, usually about 10-14 days.

3: Vegetative phase: when the plants are removed from the Nursery and transplanted to larger containers or placed on grow slabs under higher powered grow lights. This is when I lower humidity to 55-60% and gradually increase the amount of light, and increase temp slightly to drive transpiration a bit harder. This stage for me lasts 2-3 weeks.

4: Transition phase. The first 3 weeks of 12/12, I'll keep RH in the low 50's and temps high 70's. I also continue increasing light levels incrementally during this period.

5: Mid flower. Rh high 40% temp high 70's. Full light intensity.

6: Late flower: RH as low as possible temps reduced to mid-low 70's and light dialed down to 40%

Hope that helps.

 

[Johnlandy420]

I'll try and make it as simple as possible, I break the grow down into loosely defined sections.

1: Rooting phase. When clones are in the dome waiting for roots to pop. I aim for 85%+ humidity and a temp of 75-80f. Last about 2 weeks.

2: Nursery phase. Also called the preveg stage, this is after rooted cuts are transplanted to their first home, either a 3" block in my case, or a red solo cup, or small Nursery pot etc. I aim for 65-70% humidity and temp of 75-80f. This stage lasts until the starting container is well rooted, usually about 10-14 days.

3: Vegetative phase: when the plants are removed from the Nursery and transplanted to larger containers or placed on grow slabs. This is when I lower humidity to 55-60% and increase temp slightly to drive transpiration a bit harder. This stage for me lasts 2-3 weeks.

4: Transition phase. The first 3 weeks of 12/12, I'll keep RH in the low 50's and temps high 70's.

5: Mid flower. Rh high 40% temp high 70's

6: Late flower: RH as low as possible temps reduced to mid-low 70's and light dialed down to 40%

Hope that helps.

Very very much helps!!
Thanks

 

[Dirtbag]

Very very much helps!!
Thanks

My pleasure. I should also say that you can really grow pot in almost any humidity within reason, lots of folks grow in low humidity environments successfully. But I am a believer that growers can use VPD to fine tune the environmental conditions, and that it can be beneficial and lead to healthier, faster growing plants.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Here in Hawaii, we don't have humidity, we have high tide and the plants love it.

 

[Johnlandy420]

My pleasure. I should also say that you can really grow pot in almost any humidity within reason, lots of folks grow in low humidity environments successfully. But I am a believer that growers can use VPD to fine tune the environmental conditions, and that it can be beneficial and lead to healthier, faster growing plants.

Yes! And thank you for expanding further when I think you knew where I was going with it. Nice Folks Here

 

[Casimpi]

Hey Dirt that was a great write up about your 6 stages and super helpful. May I ask why you lower the lights intensity at the end of flower? I understand this mimics nature but I am sure you have your reasons so I am curious.

 

[Dirtbag]

Hey Dirt that was a great write up about your 6 stages and super helpful. May I ask why you lower the lights intensity at the end of flower? I understand this mimics nature but I am sure you have your reasons so I am curious.

I believe It's been shown through a fair bit of testing that plants retain more terpenes and cannabinoids under reduced light conditions during the final ripening phase in the last couple weeks of growth. I dont have any links off hand to actual studies, but I've heard this from enough people I trust that I believe it. But now I need to actually research it lol thanks
It makes sense though, the plant is dying, it's not using much for nutrients or uptaking much water by then, it's photosynthetic activity is really slowing down, so it doesn't really have much use for the same amount of photons it gets in full bloom. Most of its trich development is already complete, it's really just a matter of giving it ripening conditions. Reduced food, reduced light, reduced temperatures are the things I do to ripen a plant. I see it as kinda reverting back to its infant needs, just like people do at the end.

Speaking of which... just came across this and hadn't seen this version before. Probably the best performance of this I've seen. After all this song, and Trent himself have been through, the pain on his face at the end of the first verse is so visible. This is fucking music, straight from the soul. As dark as it might be.

Song starts at 1 min in.

 

[Dirtbag]

Also should point out, I don't just cut light back to 40% overnight, I'll start a couple weeks from harvest by dialing the balasts down to 750, then 600 a couple days later, then raising the lamps a little each day and eventually have them up at the cieling for just the last 7 days. That was with my 1K HID though, the LED's I'll just dial down over the course of a week and then leave it low for the last week.

 

[amekins]

Also should point out, I don't just cut light back to 40% overnight, I'll start a couple weeks from harvest by dialing the balasts down to 750, then 600 a couple days later, then raising the lamps a little each day and eventually have them up at the cieling for just the last 7 days. That was with my 1K HID though, the LED's I'll just dial down over the course of a week and then leave it low for the last week.

Thank you for this. Truly. Now I have some specifics to try and address for a better grow.

 

[Dirtbag]

Not sure I've mentioned this, but im a music junkie. My entire life is supported with a constant running soundtrack.

Currently this classic popped up in my Spotify recommendation. Haven't listed to this since my extacy and Acid days in the 90's.
Currently it's giving me junkie like focus getting some paperwork done lol. Boof.

 

[Dirtbag]

Whoa, these are growing quick. Everytime I look at them it's not even a question, they're bigger. Everyday noticably bigger.
So far.. so good.
First feed and topping tomorrow.