VOTE NOW - TOP OR MAINLINE : Hunting Gorillas with the SpiderFarmer SE3000

  • Thread starter Nectarivorous
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Top or Mainline??

  • Top

    Votes: 3 60.0%
  • Mainline

    Votes: 2 40.0%

  • Total voters
    5
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Sweet Greens all! So this is my second run from seed, had pretty good success on my first run of Green Crack if I say so myself.. 11 Oz of delicious goodies after drying and trimming out of a 4x4 with 570 W of MarsHydro LED. Since then SpiderFarmer have come to the party with the SE3000 and it's much better than the 2 Mars TSL2000 I had in there, even with the reduced wattage. Actual PAR is amazingly high on this thing.

So due to a horrific clone run in the last few months, which got way too little attention due to newborn and new job, I'm horribly low on medicine. Fortunately my two other clones went outside... About 3 weeks I'd say...
AD1CAB70-9EDB-40D8-917F-6F49C8EDBD3C.jpeg

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So those will tide me over until my new Gorilla Glues come good. #4 for the afficionados. These were germinated on paper towel and had one inch tap roots within 48 hours. Put in Coco that night under the stove LED, they popped the next day. That was 21 days today. The genetics seem to be on point, the tent and watering system are tuned in, the CO2 bag is helping ensure atmospheric levels are maintained in that little room. Who knows how much each factor is contributing to the better results this time but they're flying.

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That's just the last four days. Totally different story from my sativa girls last time. Again, different variety, better tent and water setup, CO2 added, better skills, too much has changed from first grow to know what is making the difference but I'm not complaining.

So these are finishing their 5th node so it's time for Uncle Chop Chop. Easy option is top down to 4th, lose the runty first node, top side shoots at three nodes and head for home.

OR

Chop down to 3, trim all below, train sideways and head for mainline country. I kind of feel like given the good healthy growth rate and indica genetics these might be good girls to run a Mainline.

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Share your thoughts! I'm confident enough in my gardening ability to do either, but is there a noticeable benefit or cost either way? Always looking to learn farmers! Cheers for checking in, hope to have you along for the ride!!
 
Shaded_One

Shaded_One

1,866
263
I vote for the poor mans mainline - top at the 4/5/6 node and then leave one below but remove everything else. Then start your training for the "manifold". Mainline is nice but adds too much time to the process for it to be worthwhile imo

Looking good dude. What you got going on for IPM with the outdoor girls?
 
Treecutter

Treecutter

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63
Yea mainline takes to much time for me. Did one last year in a 4x4. By the time I got out of veg, I could have finished 4 plants in the same tent.
Its cool to grow a big one every now and then.

I do have some gg4 and white widow autos getting crossed right now. Last year I finally found the 2 sets I wanted to breed and they are all fat and seeded.
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Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
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Yea mainline takes to much time for me. Did one last year in a 4x4. By the time I got out of veg, I could have finished 4 plants in the same tent.
Its cool to grow a big one every now and then.

I do have some gg4 and white widow autos getting crossed right now. Last year I finally found the 2 sets I wanted to breed and they are all fat and seeded.View attachment 1226199View attachment 1226198View attachment 1226200View attachment 1226201

Sexy AF. Great work. I decided to go with my brother up above and do the budgo version. Topped at 4, took off 1&2 and will train 3&4, topping them all at 3 nodes.
 
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Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
So, is it time to take my girls down?? I got the magnifier out tonight, and given it is halfway through March thought they're worth checking. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised given how late in the season but - are these ready??

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That's the girls as they are, some trichome pics here:

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20CFACD5 3686 4F43 B307 822ADE0490FF
75AB3673 2E50 43EC A1CA 98FBC8F14CCD
43E738E7 17F5 43B5 AEAA 64A8F985D3F0
DFC5D690 495E 4890 A202 656E57EEB8FC
CE02C451 1938 4759 B653 5B2C690B1A48
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I mean there's clearly some clear trichs bit then you're always gonna have a mix. The really really orange ones are from the top of the top bud so probably not representative of the whole plant. There's a good mix of pics from all over both there. They're green crack which is sativa dominant so I don't want to lose that energetic lifted high, bit I also don't want to pick too soon and miss any extra bulk or Trich ripening.

Excuse the shoddy camera work still getting used to it. Let me know what you think!
 
Xhale

Xhale

145
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The general consensus is for 60% or more pistols to turn brown, and similar for the trichomes under the glass. your's looks like 90%+ white pistils and white trichomes. the bottom line: what do you prefer? and this can only come after testing the different options over a few growth seasons.

I go for 80%+ brown pistols/trichomes.

Are you in the southern hemisphere like me? I typically harvest my outdoor ladies in late April till mid-May, depending on the plants progress.

[edit:] the timing also depends on how much I'm harvesting and what's going on in my life, and how much of space is left in my drying shed.
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
The general consensus is for 60% or more pistols to turn brown, and similar for the trichomes under the glass. your's looks like 90%+ white pistils and white trichomes. the bottom line: what do you prefer? and this can only come after testing the different options over a few growth seasons.

I go for 80%+ brown pistols/trichomes.

Are you in the southern hemisphere like me? I typically harvest my outdoor ladies in late April till mid-May, depending on the plants progress.

[edit:] the timing also depends on how much I'm harvesting and what's going on in my life, and how much of space is left in my drying shed.
Thanks man always good to get some advice from the bottom of the rock. Yeah I thought it seemed early considering the stage of bud fattening. Always had heard it was at least April. Mine may come down to need haha reckon I've got three weeks of flowers left. Still might be a good chance to keep letting them fatten and have a little holiday.

I dry on a rope string along the side of my tent, I've got 4x glues in there which were topped first time today. They'll be about 10 weeks away so these things will be dry and a month into cure by then. Be nice to have a bit of outdoor Green Crack and some indoor GG4. I like the sound of that
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
I vote for the poor mans mainline - top at the 4/5/6 node and then leave one below but remove everything else. Then start your training for the "manifold". Mainline is nice but adds too much time to the process for it to be worthwhile imo

Looking good dude. What you got going on for IPM with the outdoor girls?
Very little mate haha. A couple of hits of Neem oil and the moths literally haven't touched them. Saw some stippling on leaves and hit them with mite Terminator and they haven't come back either. Truth be told I've been pretty lazy with them but it's been so hot here that pests haven't had much of a chance. Ground is so dry. I literally had zero mosquito bites all season and I normally get eaten. No standing water anywhere for breeding.
 
Shaded_One

Shaded_One

1,866
263
Very little mate haha. A couple of hits of Neem oil and the moths literally haven't touched them. Saw some stippling on leaves and hit them with mite Terminator and they haven't come back either. Truth be told I've been pretty lazy with them but it's been so hot here that pests haven't had much of a chance. Ground is so dry. I literally had zero mosquito bites all season and I normally get eaten. No standing water anywhere for breeding.

Cool! I've never grown outdoors so just curious. I would be paranoid as hell about bringing bugs to my inside grows too 😬
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Cool! I've never grown outdoors so just curious. I would be paranoid as hell about bringing bugs to my inside grows too 😬
That's exactly what happened to the two clones that went into the tent. Full of spider mites I didn't pick it up until right before harvest. Fucked me. Never again. Bombed the tent and grows from seed only in there haha
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
So this is such a different world from my first grow. It's almost unrecognisable in terms of how it's set up and the results. The watering thing actually makes sense now, on the first grow it was all a mystery. Full credit to so many people but on watering is primarily @Aqua Man FTW.

So first thing I've changed is a drastic change. First grow was 8 gal plastic drain pots. This time - 1 gal fabric. It's a whole new world. Because of the improved evaporation and drainage and root distribution I'm able to water these 5 times a day and that'll just go up as they grow. When they talk about rapid growth with high frequency fertigation in Coco:

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That's 9 days, bear in mind four days ago these were topped and nodes 1&2 removed, so this is all recovery growth. If I'd just left them they would be huge. No more root rot issues with those horrible big fabric pots. Check it:

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All four pots are like that, and because the roots are being pruned they will be throwing out side shoots and this pot is basically full. The question will be can I take them all the way through on these root systems. With more and more regular watering should be fine. Again @Aqua Man set me straight on this. So I'm kinda doing the one gal challenge without meaning to. Germ date was 2/21 so I'm a little early.

Instead of the trickle system recommended by the grow store which I found to be entirely inadequate, especially in a giant 8 gal pot, they now have the little sprays you can see above. I found a little pump that is for caravan shower systems so it has great head pressure but will only 7-10 litres a minute flow rate. To give you some idea I can give these a litre across the tent, about half a pint each, but it takes 32 seconds to do so. You can see in the photo it literally looks like it's been rained on. No sodden patches and dry patches. And much less wastage of water that just runs straight thru because it's delivered too fast.

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The other cool thing is I've built in that overflow pipe you can see that comes off the delivery pipe and back into the nute tank to reduce the pressure on the outlets. It has the added bonus that I can shut the valve on the delivery pipe and just run the pump while adding nutes. No more stirring needed the whole tank gets turned over every minute or so with high pressure from the top so it gets oxygenated as well. That addition was accidental but it's easily the best addition!!

As I say the girls were topped four days ago at node 4, and 1&2 were removed. Shoots on 3 are making their 3rd nodes already. I've started to train two bit the other two need another day. Shoots on four will likely be trained day after that, then all will be topped at node 3 soon after. From there should go straight to flower, likely around day 32. I'll be psyched to get all the way from seed to flip with beautiful structure in under five weeks. For now, the system seems to be tuned.

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Again for those who are interested, the watering system that works for me is:

(Total capacity 4 pots = 16L
5:00 lights on
6:00 1L fert
9:00 1L feet - RUNOFF ACHIEVED
1:00 0.33L
5:00 0.33L
9:00 0.33L
11:00 lights out

This gives 3L across the 18 hours of lights on, or just under 20% of pot volume. 15-20% run off. It's the most tuned in system I've ever had.

Looking forward to a successful flip!
 
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Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
@BionicKroniK @ComfortablyNumb @Justlovetogrow @growsince79 where my peeps at?? Hope you all good. Love to hear your thoughts on the new grow! And see what you been cooking... Peace all ❤️
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
@BionicKroniK my other grow is going well also 😉 I'll message you some photos. She's incredible ❤️
 
ComfortablyNumb

ComfortablyNumb

6,099
313
@BionicKroniK @ComfortablyNumb @Justlovetogrow @growsince79 where my peeps at?? Hope you all good. Love to hear your thoughts on the new grow! And see what you been cooking... Peace all ❤️
BK and I have been pretty busy lately. We are moving and had a death in the family. A lot going on right now.

It looks like you are getting it down and built into a system that does what you need.
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
BK and I have been pretty busy lately. We are moving and had a death in the family. A lot going on right now.

It looks like you are getting it down and built into a system that does what you need.
Hey mate sorry to hear that. If she's not on here much please pass on my best wishes. Hope to see you settled and back on here doing your thing soon
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Life is so busy, and the plants grow so fast you look at them and think how's small they were last time you posted and are sure it was weeks ago. Turns out it was only six days.

In that time I've had a full round of leaves be damaged by Ntox, managed them around new growth, war last nite able to trim them all off and let more light and airflow through and they've never looked better. Only my second try but really seeing the benefits of lessons learned on round one. For one I spotted the Ntox the very morning it showed, flushed them heavily and will put them back on quarter strength tomorrow. Last four days just RO water and they look mint.

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I was so hesitant on grow one to remove any leaves, now I'm firmly in the other camp. The first growth leaves off nodes 3&4 (the only two I left) were as big as my head and leathery. Once they get to a point where feeding them is taking more out than they're bringing, especially once other stuff shades them out, they're gone. The stems on them were as thick as pencils that's a lot of water.

There are plenty on the front two that will come off in a day or two at second topping. The two at back are a little ahead and were topped tonight for second and last time. You can see how managed the large foliage has been this time around, all trained up in a poor man's mainline, nodes 3&4 grown out to 3 nodes each then topped again. Really proud of this as a first go at proper HST, they are the healthiest plants I've ever had and by fixing the nutes quickly I minimised damage.

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Anyone got good info on how long to leave these after topping before I flip? They've got all the nodes they need but I'm assuming I'll want to get some bulk into them? Or will that happen over the first couple of weeks of flower onset regardless? Hope you like the pics cheers all
 
Shaded_One

Shaded_One

1,866
263
Life is so busy, and the plants grow so fast you look at them and think how's small they were last time you posted and are sure it was weeks ago. Turns out it was only six days.

In that time I've had a full round of leaves be damaged by Ntox, managed them around new growth, war last nite able to trim them all off and let more light and airflow through and they've never looked better. Only my second try but really seeing the benefits of lessons learned on round one. For one I spotted the Ntox the very morning it showed, flushed them heavily and will put them back on quarter strength tomorrow. Last four days just RO water and they look mint.

View attachment 1229483

I was so hesitant on grow one to remove any leaves, now I'm firmly in the other camp. The first growth leaves off nodes 3&4 (the only two I left) were as big as my head and leathery. Once they get to a point where feeding them is taking more out than they're bringing, especially once other stuff shades them out, they're gone. The stems on them were as thick as pencils that's a lot of water.

There are plenty on the front two that will come off in a day or two at second topping. The two at back are a little ahead and were topped tonight for second and last time. You can see how managed the large foliage has been this time around, all trained up in a poor man's mainline, nodes 3&4 grown out to 3 nodes each then topped again. Really proud of this as a first go at proper HST, they are the healthiest plants I've ever had and by fixing the nutes quickly I minimised damage.

View attachment 1229484

Anyone got good info on how long to leave these after topping before I flip? They've got all the nodes they need but I'm assuming I'll want to get some bulk into them? Or will that happen over the first couple of weeks of flower onset regardless? Hope you like the pics cheers all

Looking good dude! I would give them at least a week after topping before going into flower. Don't want to be taking stressed out plants into bud production. Healthy plants put on noticeable growth in the first few weeks of flower.
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Looking good dude! I would give them at least a week after topping before going into flower. Don't want to be taking stressed out plants into bud production. Healthy plants put on noticeable growth in the first few weeks of flower.
Thanks man! Pretty sure it was you who gave me the idea, great call. Like most of the benefits of a Mainline without the stupid long veg time. Should still have them in flower under 40 days which is ten days quicker than first grow which is a great result. Cheers for your help bro!
 
Shaded_One

Shaded_One

1,866
263
Thanks man! Pretty sure it was you who gave me the idea, great call. Like most of the benefits of a Mainline without the stupid long veg time. Should still have them in flower under 40 days which is ten days quicker than first grow which is a great result. Cheers for your help bro!

You're welcome bruv! I am actually doing the exact same thing with 2 plants in my closet right now. I just wanted to test it out and turned out really well. 35 days I think from seed is all the veg time they needed and I even cut off waaaaaay more branching than I intended to about a week before flower. They are both doing really well I and depending on how these buds turn out I may do this will all of my plants moving forward.

Keeping my eye on your progress :)
 
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