GreenopsIII - 250w ScrOG

[greenops]

Thanks for checkin in guys.

Day 17

They're finally responding to the 12-12 cycle. Bud sites poppin up everywhere, the stretch overnight surprised me too..

Im throwin in some LST in there as a couple branches were getting too tall i tied them to the screen.

yup, its flowering tiiiime.
Is today technically the first day of flowering?

 

[greenops]

Day 20 into 12/12 - Day 9 flowering

The pistils turned from V to 3-4 a pop overnight. Now there are small bushels popping up everywhere. The stretch has increased since the pistil growth started to kick in too.
I LSTd more taller branches, u can see 2 of them on the front row, on the left and the right...

Im wondering if the temperature drop during lights out is holding em back a lil bit... I heard from other KB growers that they like higher temps? I always thought 70F is best, but it also drops to 60F (15C). I got the windows cracked for better air exchange. If i have to raise the temps i have to close every window.
Would closing the widows affect the air exchange of my plants negatively?

 

[gaiusmarius]

yeah if it get too cold at night it can have a hold back effect on the yield. ideally you want the night temps no lower then 18° or minimum 16°, basically the less difference between day and night temps the better for the yield. i like to not let nights get bellow 18° and days not over 28°

 

[greenops]

OK thanks for that tip. I'm keeping the night temps up now by closing the window during lights out.
Actually I thought that a drop of 10C from day to night is a good thing, cant remember where i get that from but i read somewhere.

Hookay, Flowering 13 Days / 24 days into 12 12

I decided to remove the glass in the air-cooled hood. So with the bare bulb the temp is steady at 24C at the moment! So i'm happy with the extra lumens.

The stretch has slowed down, while the hairs get bushier by the day. The FCJ#1 and the KB already have that Bubblegum like aroma...

Also I gave them their first Bloom Nute dose 2 days ago. Started with a lil less than half of the recommended dosage. I'm doing a small experiment: Ive used Plagron Bloom ever since but this time I'm giving the FCJ#2 Canna Bio Flores, while the FCJ#1 and KB get Plagron Bloom.

 

[greenops]

I'm in a dilemma. In the above post I mentioned that the temps without the glass in the aircooled hood was steady at 24C.
For some weird reason, the temps peaked at 29C on the 2nd day. I measure from the outside of the canopy, who knows how hot it gets in middle. I didnt change anything. Outside temps are the same...
I raised the light from 25cm - 30cm (10'' to 12''). Temps didnt change much.

Today it seems like the temps will reach the same high temps from yesterday. I added an extra clip fan right next to the PC fan. The temps seem to be a lil bit lower (after an hour closed its at 27.5C). The problem with that is the clip fan is creating lil a shade on the canopy, and it kinda bothers me that some buds dont get direct light.

So at the moment, the light is raised to 12 inches, which according to the distance/lumen chart gives approx 8700 lumen. That creates more heat (27 - 29C, probably even 30+). Plus an extra fan above the canopy is blocking direct light to some buds.

If I attach the glass to the aircooled hood, fully isolated, I can lower the light to 10 inches. I dont know how many lumen reach the canopy, but uncovered it should be 12000. The temp would be steady at 24-26C too......

Any advice what I should do???

 

[thor]

I'd definitely attach the glass to the hood, it takes only a very unsignificant amount of light away from plants. You are averaging more than 40 watts per square feet anyway, that's a pretty good light usage. The plants definitely won't feel the difference, and frying the tops can make quite a big impact on the overall yield. So to sum it up, go for it

 

[gaiusmarius]

yeah in this case it seems the glass is the way to go. although temps to 28 or even to max 29 are not the end of the world. but if it's like that now in the winter then the glass plate is best. just keep it as clean as you can. you made nice fat buds with the glass in, so it seems you have enough light despite the glass. specially as you are able to get much closer that way, in fact being able to hang the light closer will compensate for the glass and more i bet.

 

[BroughtSuperior]

really nice scrog man, props, i did one back wen i had a 250 w too, thats the way to go IMO!!
cheers

 

[greenops]

Thanks guys I put the glass back in.
I always thought that i'm losing a lot of lumen, but apparently its more important to keep temps cooler.
I'm just getting a bit desperate identifying the real problem i have: in my previous 2 grows I noticed that the buds were smelling good in the beginning then during week 6 to 7, as the buds began to swell they started losing that smell. So I always ended up with odorless or weak smelling buds... I've ruled out drying and curing problems. So i'm thinking it must be something in my setup that causes that, but i guess it aint the lack of lumen.

Well, we'll see if i have better luck this time with new the new genetics.

Oh yea cleaning the glass is a bitch! I cleaned the glass nicely then as I hooked everything up, tiny charcoal pieces from inside the filter fell down through the tube on to the glass!

really nice scrog man, props, i did one back wen i had a 250 w too, thats the way to go IMO!!
cheers

Thanks man.. its really the way to go when using 250w. I wish i could say the same as you some day """back when i had 250w...."""

 

[gaiusmarius]

i wonder if you just haven't found the right phenos of the strains you grew so far? you do get differences in quality in strains, so if you only ever growing 1 seed of a strain, you could get unlucky phenos of that strain. although with the better genetics even the lesser females at least are goodish.

 

[greenops]

i wonder if you just haven't found the right phenos of the strains you grew so far? you do get differences in quality in strains, so if you only ever growing 1 seed of a strain, you could get unlucky phenos of that strain. although with the better genetics even the lesser females at least are goodish.

I havent ruled out bad genetics yet, its probable tho... but if that would be the case then i must have some bad fukin luck!

My friend just started his first run in a 1m x 1m grow tent, 450w hps no cooltube.. gets temps and humidity as i do.
I gave him 5 Tangerine Dreams seeds which he started about a month before my grow then I gave him 2 Blueberry Gum plants which i vegged a month at my place. The BBGs and my current plants were all popped at the same time.

I checked his grow last week, the TDs in week6 and the BBGs in week4 and maaaan they smell amazing!! especially the BBGs I gave him! At 4 weeks the smell is already getting intensive and complex. The TDs already remind me of a finished product, i told him man your grow box smells like Barney's Coffeshop.
None of my previous plants have ever smelled as close as each of his plants do... Can he be that lucky?
And nobody can tell me his a better grower than me lol but yea he would admit that too, i basically tell him all i know then i just found out that he still waters wrong. Gives them a glass of water everyday just to keep the surface wet.

Another difference between our setup is he gets air directly from the outside into the tent. While my cabinet gets passive air intake from inside the room, where as much as possible i leave the windows tilted. Its getting cold tho so i have to close it too.

On another note... my Fruity Chronic Juice #1's odor is starting to get intense! Noticed about 4 days ago that i can smell some truly fruity sweet dank aroma in there... i just hope it will stay this time!


A pic of my friends grow taken with my camera phone:

 

[BroughtSuperior]

do you guys use the same nutrients\regime?

 

[greenops]

Day 28 into 12/12 - Day 17 flowering

So i'm in the 2nd week of flowering and i notice that the FCJ#1 on the left is ahead of the FCJ#2 in the right, and last is the KB in the middle in terms of hairiness. Its starting to get dusty too and the FCJ#1 already smells fruity, sweet... just dank! The KB is also starting to develop some smell, kinda sour at the moment. The FCJ#2 nada!

I wanna ask u guys.. how important is getting fresh air in the cabinet? Is air from the room enough if i open windows couple times a day?

 

[greenops]

do you guys use the same nutrients\regime?

As i said he waters everyday and i think he alternates, nutes, water, nutes, water etc... He uses the same brand but mixes the dosage without measuring and he doesnt pH them.

Me I water til water drips out the buttom and wont water again until about 4cm on the surface gets dry... thats about every 5 days. I also alternate nute and water, and i only give half of recommended dose as i heard giving less is safer and sometimes better. I pH so that the runoff is 6.5 -6.7.
When I water without nutes, i like to add some Cannazym or some hormones for the roots. Not sure if thats a good idea but i only give 1/4 to 1/2

 

[gaiusmarius]

this really is a puzzle, what about the soil mix?

in my many years of growing i have not found things like where the air comes from to make a difference to the quality of the end product. basically if my plants were growing well and looking healthy then they made tasty buds according to the genetics.

also what is your harvesting, manicuring, drying and jarring routine like? i know you say it shouldn't be that, but just humor me so we can check it off.

back to the air thing, you should have enough air around if you open the windows a couple of times a day for a good air out. but ideally it is best to have your exhaust going straight outside and your intake coming in from outside too. but again that a more yield related thing, not so much taste and smell.

 

[greenops]

this really is a puzzle, what about the soil mix?

We use the same brand. Plagron Grow Mix. I popped the BBGs, planted them myself into their pots at the same time as my current scrog grow. I first planned to go with a 4 plant scrog . I then realized that if I wanted to go with the big pots I only have space for 3 so I gave away the BBGs cuz they were the slowest in veg.

in my many years of growing i have not found things like where the air comes from to make a difference to the quality of the end product. basically if my plants were growing well and looking healthy then they made tasty buds according to the genetics.

Nice dude i'm glad it i can rule that out.

also what is your harvesting, manicuring, drying and jarring routine like? i know you say it shouldn't be that

...I'm just saying that because the buds lose their smell in the final stretch of flowering.

, but just humor me so we can check it off.

In my first harvest I clipped each branch, roughly manicured the buds and hung them up individually in the dark with lil air circulation.
Most drying tutorials tell u to dry til stems crack/snap. One convincing guy on youtube said to start curing when the stems almost start tocrack. So after 5-6 days drying half of the branches were starting to crack, while the other half were still bendy. I clipped the buds, jarred them. Some jars I burped more frequent than the others. After 1 week they smelled terrible, like socks and hay.. after a month the hay smell was gone but the buds were basically odorless.

When I harvested the Amnesia Lemon I decided to go with Simon's perfect cure tutorial which is on this site (after reading 10 other articles on drying and curing).
This time I hung the whole plant to slow down drying. Just after four days some buds were getting dry to the touch so I clipped the driest buds and paper bagged them. The rest were still hanging for 1-3 more days. Paper bagged them all. After 2 days in the bag i jarred them, rH showed 68%. Dried them some more... after couple days of burping i reached a stable 63% - 65%.
The smell of this batch has improved a lot compared to my first grow.
But the smell is very week and boring.. its like a thin slice out of the terpens spectrum. And exactly how they smelled during the final stretch. So i believe no matter how u cure, u cant get it smellier than how they were before the chop.

The buds smelled much better during 6th week of flowering... so i'm trying to identify the problem so i can save this grow lol.. btw they are starting to smell reeealy nice =)

back to the air thing, you should have enough air around if you open the windows a couple of times a day for a good air out. but ideally it is best to have your exhaust going straight outside and your intake coming in from outside too. but again that a more yield related thing, not so much taste and smell.

Yea man thats why i wanna move to another apartment. I live on the first floor, i cant have shit sticking out of my windows lol

Man I went off, i'm on some skunk#1 from my first grow right now. No taste but effects are nice uplifting...

 

[gaiusmarius]

ok so in the end it has to be genetics, or something you are doing with them in the last weeks? do you give a good flush at the end? how long do you let them finish without nutrients (just water)?

i hear ya on having stuff sticking out of your window. you can make a lung box surrounding the window, leave the window open on a slant or a crack, block it, then put a net curtain in there, plug your exhaust in at the top of the box covering your window and the intake from the bottom of the box, add slitted duct covers inside the box and paint everything white or black whatever makes it less conspicuous. when you are finished the window should just look like its open a crack for fresh air with curtain visible and nothing more beyond that. ideally use the same curtain as the rest of the window has on it. you can then let the blinds down a few cms and even if someone goes right close to the window they will see nothing, the worst is a slight warm air that will be coming out if someone can go very close. i camouflage all my ventilation exhausts and intakes like that. but you are right ground floor is no fun exhausting, but can be done if it's not a massive setup. i go over big with ventilation then use a speed controller with a transferer that makes the ventilation run at lower speeds near silently, compared to the cheep speed controllers that make the ventilating buzz when it's throttled. then use big insulated ducting too and you have a slow, silent air exchange.

 

[greenops]

i wonder if you just haven't found the right phenos of the strains you grew so far? you do get differences in quality in strains, so if you only ever growing 1 seed of a strain, you could get unlucky phenos of that strain. although with the better genetics even the lesser females at least are goodish.

true thats possible.. i shall find out more after this grow.

 

[fungzyme]

i go over big with ventilation then use a speed controller with a transferer that makes the ventilation run at lower speeds near silently, compared to the cheep speed controllers that make the ventilating buzz when it's throttled.

Sorry to barge in off-topic, but that's what I'm setting up too, and wonder what kind of a speed controller you're talking about? Do you use a triac (sp?) speed controller?

 

[gaiusmarius]

the important part about a silent ventilation system is that the speed controller has a transformer inside that actually reduces the power input level according to what speed it's running at. the best ones also include a auto setting which will control the speed accrding to temps. this way the speed gets reduced to 1 (20%), over night and goes all the way up to 3 (60%speed), during the lights on phase. you tell it what ideal temp you want like 25° and it will decide the speed accordingly. the thing is the transformer, without that, the noise reduction is not the same and you get that buzzing, plus the power is wasted and the units will sometimes burn out. i got a aric unit recently which is awesome. basically an electrician can put this together quite cheap from components, but the finished units on sale with a proper transformer are not cheap. for the rest use insulated ducting and largest ducting you can deal with.