SuperSilverHaze from Mr Nice, Part II...pedro's way

Hey everyone!!

I had such good luck with my first SSH grow I thought I would do another one before summer. I did a grow last summer, but it's a pain in the ass. And this will be my 4th grow back to back. I need a rest after this one. I want to do some fun things this summer....like gold prospecting. I have all the stuff and price is way up now. over $900/oz. Me and the g/f will have fun getting tuned up on some SSH and look for gold in some of the most beautiful country on the planet. Yeah!!

Anyway, once more I am gonna try to document this grow in a way to help other newbies like me. That said...

I do NOT pretend to be an expert cannibis grower. That'd be silly and a lie. However, I am/was a certified Master Gardener in the state where I used to live.

I'm simply going to present my grow and the methods I use as being good enough so that the average guy/gal can be sucessfull 1st time out. There will be some who won't like my advice and methods. That's fine with me. All I am going to say is what I present worked for me. Did I get spectacular yields? Nope, but they were decent. People who expect to "hit a home run" first time out are not the folks I want to help.

One of the things I hope to show is that if you do the basic things correctly, not trying to do anything fancy...you'll have a really good shot at a successfull grow. Certainly there are many ways to grow cannabis. It isn't like it's "pedro's way" or disaster. That's stupid. I have just enough ego though to believe that my way will get you some decent smoke and not be a stressful grow.

I want to say right now that I will refer people to Suby, 10K, MyNameIsStitch, BurnOne, and others when I think that's the way to go. THEY are the cannabis growing experts, NOT me...not yet anyway

Hopefully new, prospective growers will find this thread helpful in deciding how to do their own grow...


pedro

I'm going to post some thoughts on pH, soil, and watering here later on when I have time

Saving for future post.

I'll be back Sunday sometime with my 1st installment

pedro

Hey everyone:

I'm back. I had to be out of town and so I got behind on this thread.
I'll try to catch things up quickly but not leave anything important out.

First a little bit about my soil mixes.

I like mine simple. I begin with a local/regional potting mix that costs about $4.99/1.5 ft3 bag. It is about 70% compost, 25% sphagnum moss, 5% perlite...or close to that. No nutrients added. I think it is important to use mixes with NOTHING added in the way of nutes. I'll add my own, thank you.

I use the basic ratio of 2-1-2
2 gallons of local/regional potting mix(every nursery has something like this)
1 gallon of worm castings
2 gallons of perlite

2 Tbsl/gallon of organic mix dolomite lime.
2 Tbls/gallon High Nitrogen Guano (10-3-1)
2 Tbls/gallon High Phosphorus Guano (0-5-0)
2 Tbls/gallon Kelp Meal (1-0.1-2)

Yeah it's a lot of perlite, but I like my soil to be light, very well draining. I like my soils to dry out more quickly than some folks do. During peak growth in 11 Liter pots, I water every 3-4 days. IMO, light airy soils produce better root mass. Overwatering is less of a problem with well draining soils. That doesn't mean you can be sloppy about watering technique though.

I screen soil mix and wrom castings to get the hunks of crap that are always present OUT. They take up a LOT of space, especially in your smaller pots....and contribute ZERO to your grow. Screen that shit out of your potting mix and EWCs.

I also screen dolomite lime through a fine screen. Fine particles will be incorporated much more readily than those big hunks will.

I mix the five gallon batches in an 18 gallon tote. After thoroughly mixing "dry". I moisten, NOT WET the soil mix with the following:

1 gallon of tap water (my tapwater is Ok for this part):

2tsp of Liquid Karma
1tsp Earth Juice Microblast

I then slowly add this to my soil mix, mixing it in with my hands until the soil is moistened evenly throughout. I can grab a handful and squeeze it hard, but it will "fall apart" when I open my hand. That's how I like my soil mix. If it is too wet and clumps easily, all the air spaces will be lost. Roots will have a tough time.

That's it. Soil is ready to put my plants in for early vegging and flowering. Final potting mix is the same but I leave out any Nitrogen containing amendments. Excess Nitrogen later on in flowering is something I like to avoid. I add Nitrogen on as needed basis in later stages of flowering.

I'm sure I left something out. Please feel free to ask questions. I'm OK with constructive criticism too

pedro


Screen that dolomite lime before using. Grinding to a powder is even fine too.


Here's what mine looks like.


18 gallon tote makes anice container to mix 5 gallons of soil at a time.


Gotta have this for my grow area.


Don't have early baby pics since I was away. These are SSH1 and SSH2, the first to sprout on Jan 31. They are 2 weeks old here on Valentines day


SSH5 and SSH6 are 5-6 days behind 1&2.


SSH3 and SSH4 sprouted Feb 3 and 5th I think.


Here they all were on the Feb 16


Here is the first transplant for SSH1 (shown) SSH2 got transplanted too. I sprout them in 10oz Solo cups filled about 3/4 full. 1st transplant is to 1 Liter "paint pots". I use clear containers so I can keep track of root development...something I consider critically important. I cover the cups with opaque blue cups...although I have proven to my self in my previous grows that clear cups DO NOT HARM ROOTS. I usually cover them only so y'all won't nag me about it LOL!!



I like to leave them in these cups till I have a nice soild healthy root mass. Then pot up, but not WAY up. I like to build my root mass by potting up in size several times. Post mortems on harvested plants has proven to me(maybe not to others) that this method works for building massive healthy root systems. And most growers will tell you that is important for good healthy plants and good yields. Repotting plants is NOT difficult and doesn't overly stress plants IF DONE CORRECTLY!

You want to use soil that is moist, but not WET. The plant will have an easier time of spreading roots. IMPORTANT!!!!DO NOT "pack" the new soil down in the bottom or around the sides. Pack gently, just firmly enough to get out the big air pockets. Adding the soil a little bit at a time makes this easier. Remember, you ain't packing dirt for a roadbed! Plants NEED those airspaces in there. Overpacking the soil squeezes out vital air spaces. DON'T overpack your soil mixes...EVER!!


I like to have an inch or so of new soil on the bottom for roots to grow into.


Leave room on the sides for new roots as well. You want to build successive "layers" of new roots each time you repot. You'll end up with the last pot being one huge root mass!! A good thing


Ready to go back to the lights.


New roots were visible after just 2 days on this plant. I know my way works

pedro

Hi pedro!

Hope all is well man

These little ones look very nice!Did you chop the finished ssh?

Hi Pedro

Im Watching this one till the end. I planted 3 MNS SSH on the 31st myself. I have all 3 in a DWC set up I made to mother them and should be taking clones March first. I am using PBP Grow and Bloom with a bit of LK.

I would like to post some pics as my grow goes so we cant compare notes.

Thanks BK

BadKarma said:

Hi Pedro

Im Watching this one till the end. I planted 3 MNS SSH on the 31st myself. I have all 3 in a DWC set up I made to mother them and should be taking clones March first. I am using PBP Grow and Bloom with a bit of LK.

I would like to post some pics as my grow goes so we cant compare notes.

Thanks BK

Click to expand...

Absolutely. Thanks for stopping by. It will be fun seeing how the plants compare. Unhappily I have to top mine and otherwise restrict their height...like I did on my first SSH grow( see it harvested on the Ultimate Sativa thread theother day.)

Looking forward to pics !

pedro

HEY DUDE! Thats awesome you love panning for gold too! Me and my bro LOVE going panning and makin that chedda. My bro told me 5 years ago to invest in gold... Should of listened lookin at the price now!!!!

Anyways great grow buddy and I cant wait to see this one pan out buddy! Hope all is well man and hope that things work great for you! Maybe one of these days we will all go pannin for some nuggets

Pedro, I drooled over your last run, and look forward to watching this one. Even with the photoshopped hands, I see your green thumb!

Right on man I'm always down on a ssh grow log. they are looking nice and healthy, should be a good show. thanks for the bud shots as well

Thanks everyone!!

I have these six babies now. I hope I'll get 3 good girls to grow out. 4 might be crowding my hydrohut from my past experiences.

I topped SSH1 and SSH2 Feb 18. It was after the fourth full node I think. I'll take pics so people can see how that works. I'm doing it earlier this grow. I liked the way I did it last time. All the growth was from four main stems. Kinda like a candelabra. Then I trimmed and pruned the growth on those EARLY so as not to overly stress the plant....I pruned and shaped so that I got a "bush" that would produce colas growing upright from it. I like this method for ME. I'm not much of a SCROG fan, although it is a very good growing method for limited height spaces.

So 3 plants should be ideal for how I want to grow them.

I'm going to keep nutes simple this grow. I want other newbies to see how simple this can be and still have a good result.

I'm going to use Botanicare's Pure Blend Pro Grow and Flower(the soil version), Liquid Karma, CalMag if needed(but I doubt I'll need it. I haven't yet) Earth juice MicroBlast.

How´s going?

Nice growing lesson that you are giving to the community.
Keep growing Pedro

Bigtimer!!

Hey man I love panning. I also have a hand sluice and bought a Keene Back pack dredge I havent used yet. Permitting is a bITCH here for even tiny dredges. I'm doing this grow soI'll have "fuel" for this summer's FUN LOL!

Ok everyone!!!!

I transplanted all six of my SSH babies today. The two oldest went into my 3 Liter square pots compliments of Laffy Taffy from 1 Liter they were in.

Yes, they only spent 6 days in the 1 liter pots. They are 23 days old and already 2nd transplant.

Am I transplanting too often? Not in my opinion. Those two plants had very nice root structure as you will see below. Rate of growth of Mr Nice SSH can be vigorous, even explosive. These are HEALTHY plants. Transplanting will not harm them. And remember I like transplanting multiple times to build up that really dense root mass for final flowering.

SHH 3,4,5, and 6 went to 1 liter pots from the 10oz Solo cups. As you will see below, SSH3 and SSH4 have some yellowing of their lower fans. I'm virtually certain it is a slight Nitrogen deficit. Remember they sprouted on Feb 3 and Feb 5 and have had NO NUTES yet. I waited a bit too long but I was busy and distracted from my grow. They will be fine. The soil they went into was moistened with PBPro Grow(2tsp/gallon).

SSH1 and SSH2 were topped on Feb18. I trimmed off the bottom two nodes today when I transplanted them. This wil give me some room on next rransplant to bury the stems a couple inches and gain a bit of height for flowering.

As always, I appreciate any comments and/or constructive criticism.

If something isn't clear, or you have a question...please feel free to post it or PM me. I try to get back ASAP, but I do have a full time job.

One of the purposes of doing this thread is to try to help out other newbies who may be considering a grow.

pedro




Here are SSH 3.4,5,6 after transplant into 1 Liter pots. They sprouted Feb3rd,5th,6th 6th.


Here are SSH1&2 before transplant in their 1 liter pots. They are 23 days old and ruler gives you an idea of their size.


Here you can see the size of the 3 Liter square pot relative to the 1 Liter round. Square pots give you 25% more soil volume for the same pot "footprint". Laffy Taffy containers are perfect. They even have corners knocked off providing great places for drain holes


Here you can see "gap" between old and new pot. Potting up gradually like this makes for a great root mass later on.




Enlarge this as much as you can. Check out the roots on this plant. This is exactly what I like to see on my roots. See how all those roots are covered with those fine root hairs. That is the sign of a plant with a VERY healthy root system. And roots like this do much better in well drained soils where they don't drown in overcompacted overwetted soils. It is extremely important IMO that you try to get roots that look like these. VERY white and covered with those extremely fine root "hairs". And notice also that "clear pots do not cause root damage".




Here they are after trimming and transplanting next to their old pot for comparison.


Here is SSH 1 showing what I have left on it after trimming. Three full nodes plus the two beginning where I topped it. It will need more pruning later on after I see how it "wants to grow". I'm going to try to "shape" these into compact, somewhat symetrical, bushes to maximize my space.


And here they all are back on my vegging shelf. I'll get them closer to the light after pics. The light is a common 4 tube 48" T-8 fixture with a diffuser so the light is pretty even on the whole 16"x48" shelf. I have had no problems vegging plants under this light. You simply don't need a fancy light for vegging. I put them right up within an inch of the diffuser. It is impossible to harm them under this light fixture. My SSH from my last grow is back there on the far back left. I'm trying to reveg her since she was a nice haze pheno of SSH.

looking good pedro. High Times in your future!

Here are my MNS SSH Started 1.29.08

These will be my mothers. Or Fathers as the case may be.
The small one is some GD Purps. My veg/mother cab




Very Sativa

This one has the Poly thing going



They were all started on same day with the exception of the purp I didnt Ck my ph meter so There were some problems at start of grow. NO LOL


I will be starting a grow journal and post a pic or two on your thread as we go so we can see how it goes. I should take clones in a week to 10 days and will flower as soon as they are ready.
Thanks BK

PS Thanks for letting me do a growalong with you its lonely out here with no one to share with

Bad Karma!

Your plants are looking really healthy to me in those pictures. How much vertical room do you have? I hate topping mine but have no choice since I have only about 44" or so.

What sort of nutrients are you using? If you said, please excuse me! I may have been smoking hehehehee!

And sure. keep me posted on how you are doing. Mr Nice's SSH is a great strain to grow IMO. Too bad more people don't try it.

This is my second go with SSH. It is an easy strain to grow IMO. People shy away because of the price. Price is the least of the issues when you consider what you'll get back. Don't you think?

pedro

pedro48 said:

Bad Karma!

Your plants are looking really healthy to me in those pictures. How much vertical room do you have?I have about 6 feet in my flower room I hate topping mine but have no choice since I have only about 44" or so.

What sort of nutrients are you using? Pbp Pro Gro and Bloom as well as Liquid Karma and CalMag+ If you said, please excuse me! I may have been smoking hehehehee!

And sure. keep me posted on how you are doing. Mr Nice's SSH is a great strain to grow IMO. Too bad more people don't try it.

This is my second go with SSH. It is an easy strain to grow IMO. People shy away because of the price. Price is the least of the issues when you consider what you'll get back. Don't you think? Yes I do, I can have some of the worlds greatest Genetics for the rest of my life for $150 a steal if you as me.
pedro

Click to expand...

Im stoked about this grow these are the first genetics I have purchased so im very excited.

Ps My wife says High and she loved your last SSH grow she cant wait LOL

This will be fun!! I have decided to use PureBlendPro Grow and PBPro Flower(for soil) on this grow as well. I also use LK 1tsp/gallon with all feedings.

I'm not going to be shy about using it this grow either. Grow before this last one I use PBP but I think I underfed my plants. This time I'll go to full strength sooner(30ml/gallon) SSH can handle that OK I believe. Mine's a soil grow so I don't know about DWC.

I don't know about DWC but I may do a "Hempy Bucket" some day. It's sorta like DWC but the medium is 75% perlite 25% vermiculite. Super growth rates from what users tell me. No point in trying these till I have more grow room.

pedro

My g/f says HI to y'all as well.

The most I have ran is 15mil bloom 12mil Liquid Karma this gives me a ppm of about 1030 in RO water. I ran my first grow of bag seed at 8 times what the bottle says for seedlings for 21 days and never got a burn. It did eat the roots as I had none when I transplanted to my flood table. I did feel like a dope when member pointed out my mistake.


Nute burn is one of the things I worry about I flood my table 3 times a day and this kind of system reacts very fast to your mistakes.