It's 2011 and just about time for some auto-entertainment

[happycamper15]

Hi fellow ICMag'ers.

It is a new year, and I feel like sharing my grow with you all.

Here is my little cab.
A modified version of a common 4 tier mini greenhouse. It was shortened, lined with emergency blankets and filled of MJ!


I currently have a 150w HPS, 149w CFL powerstrip (600 equiv, 2700k), and three 15w fluorescent grow tubes.


For grow medium, I am doing some experimenting/comparison between Fox Farm Ocean Forest (FFOF) and Miracle-Gro Moisture Control (MGMC), both being mixed with different amounts of perlite and vermiculite.
I have always used Miracle-Gro soil for my previous auto grows with no nutrients, and done wonderful. This time around I will be attempting the implementation of Fox Farms Tiger Bloom to supplement plant health in mid flower once the soil nutrients are depleted.

The setup is in my unheated basement, and I live in the 44-48* latitude zone. Temps are cold this time of year to say the least, and right now I am leaving my lights on 24/0 to keep them warm! With the lights on and the light shield up (cork board covered in reflective emergency blanket), temps fluctuate from low to mid 80s. I just now turned the light off for about an hour and temps in the setup have fallen to slightly below 60*F. I will leave the light off another 3 hours to see how low it really goes if I start a 20/4 cycle.


All plants are 0-1.5 weeks.

Inventory
7 - Russian Rocket Fuel
5 - Sour60
9 - Aurora Indica (non-auto)
and counting

I would like to segregate and seed an entire female of both the RRF and S60 for future grows.
The AI will be moved from the cab and put into a separate flower chamber at about 8-12" tall.


Now, enough info. Onto some pictures!!!!

So what does everyone think of my makeshift cab?
Nothing special, and with minimal investment sitting in a basement corner, I think 2011 will be some real auto-tainment!




Now to wrap things up, I want to share a little nugget picture.
This a a "cola" of a Sour60 I started early November. It was started in a 16oz beer cup and left there, neglected. After week 4, the lights were shut off in my closet for 2 full weeks! This little girl was turning white and dying! Then, back she went under a single 65w CFL for about 3 weeks, and here she is. Just under a gram. Surprisingly, she smells amazing. An even mix of coffee, citrus and skunky dope.

Notice the purple hues that started showing just before I cut her. Very interesting. What may have caused this? She was never exposed to low temps. Does S60 have some purple in its heritage, or does simply cutting an auto's light source for two weeks induce some crazy patterns? Intriguing non the less.



Happy 2011 to all, and thanks for stopping by! Feel free to comment/constructively criticize!

 

[norichips]

nice little cab and those buds are frosty!

 

[happycamper15]

Juuuust about time for an update, wouldn't you say???

Strain - These plants are offspring of mdanzig's sour60 that I made last summer. I pollinated the dwarf pheno (bad idea). The resulting seeds have all come out to be squat runts/dwarfs, unfortunately. I understand that these are in small containers, but I have tried them in much larger containers with no size difference.


These first 2 girls are about 6-7 weeks old, grown in 2 liter pop bottles. Soil is 3:1 FFOF: perlite (I now know this is too much perlite and not enough soil.) They have been fed 1/4 and 1/2 strength FF Tiger Bloom about 4 or 5 times.

Well, enough talk. Here are some pics.
The 2 girls - 10" and 12"

Plant 2

As you can see, they are really lacking N. These pictures were taken before they were fed their first full dose of tiger bloom.
I have terrible water from my well. Orange, full of rust and heavy metals, and a $2000 treatment system doesn't even touch it. Although I do not have a pH/TDS pen, I guarantee it isn't good for my plants.

Should I start melting snow? My cousin offered to provide water (he gets municipal water), but it is full of chlorine. Not sure which water source is better?!






I have 3 more girls that are about 3-4 weeks old in the cab as well. For these, little to no perlite was added.

Some pics.

Plant 1 - The healthiest of them all. How's this little girl look?

Plant 2 - Something is messing with this plant. The leaves are all curled and it just seems weak/feeble. Is the FFOF too hot? Or is my water causing this? (Wouldn't surprise me a bit)

Plant 3 - Not as healthy either. The claw suggests some toxicity of sort. Any ideas? Could it be the water again?

Well thanks folks. Sorry for the super long pic heavy post, but I figure its better to be thorough than to lack information!



Take care,
HC15

 

[IwannatokeNbone]

predictions and advice

predictions=miracle grow outyeilds and with far less deficiencies then the ffof


advice= your really hurting your yeild with them containers, u really out to build a box that takes up every availbe inch of floor space so your roots can strecth n breath, your hurting youryeild with them narrow small containers and for only a few bucks in medium it is foolish. measure your box, go to target and find a tiny plastic tub for 8 dollars that matches it and cut it down to a foot in height if need be, fill it with 3 dollars worth of medium and up your yeild by 60 percent.

your weeping plants are very dark, might be your sour sixty which is very nute sensitive. id advise u put holes up the sides of them containers as well, let em breath a little. they look a little over fed as there clawing but not burnt so it should be alright.

 

[happycamper15]

Miracle Gro killed all my seedlings this time around. I have used it in the past and had okay results with MGMC, but this time around, the plants couldn't handle it. Not sure if it was an old bag or what.

I understand that I use small containers for this grow. These were trials to see how small I could go. The white orange juice jug holds a gallon of soil. The sour60 I grew in there last summer grew to 32"+. I can fit 8 of those in my cab.

 

[mitch_connor]

hey happy camper..

Some suggestions from me if you don't mind?

1) Can you store buy water? It's obviously going to make it hard on yourself having an easy grow if your water isn't very good. If you can't buy, could you filter your water??

I use straight tap water, that I let sit out for 24 hours and the plants like it. I think it's quite 'soft' but I have never PH'd it or checked PPM ever, so maybe i'm lucky?

2) I always start my seedlings in 'lightmix' it's organic and low in EC. Fully ferted soil can sometimes be up and down like a yoyo in strength, so some batches you might get away with starting them in it, other times it will be too strong and stunt them. And I don't like losing any seedlings

3) The 2 litre bottles for pots are fine!, I've used them many times, they are space efficient, and I've still had plants get over two foot left in them start to finish. Make sure you cut right on the shoulder of the bottle though (if that makes sense) so you get maximum depth. The only downsides to them is you will probably have to water every 2 days, or every other day, and that they can topple over if plants get tall in them.

Cheers, Mitch

 

[IwannatokeNbone]

sorry your beans died, i have heard that the sour 60 can get burned if they even see a nute bottle. plus is that tiger bloom not chems? did u also add it to the mgmc? imo one gall for autos isnt enough, try getting 2 gallons or a tub, you can grow a 4ft plant in a beer cup, doesnt mean its gonna yeild.


also use mircale grows potting mix, the mgmc stays wet to long, it isnt necessary.

 

[skullznroses]

Happy Camper-

I think that a tall skinny pot (2L) and a water retaining soil are both great, just might not be a great combo together. Personally, I would never use Miracle-gro, but thats cause I have other options. I have seen several threads on here where people do pull decent plants using the MG soil. They all have waxy looking plants that stay really dark green. I have yet to see a plant "reach" for the light in this mix yet, to me the ultimate sign of good feeding and soil combinations. Most of them have down curling leaves, a sign of too much nutes.

I think that especially early in growth, before the plant uses more water, this combo could cause the seedlings to stay wet for their first week or even ten days. I find that for strong early growth a good balance between wet and then mostly dry soil, then wet to dry... repeated is best for the plant. My friend who pumps out the chronic always always tells people to never overwater the soil, that it must be dry on top to even think about watering again.

With both water and nutrients I feel it is important to give slowly, so the plant will grow fast.

Best regards

 

[IwannatokeNbone]

the lack of reach in the fans is due to lack of blue light, throw in just one 20 watt 6400k cfl and in twenty minutes so long as the medium isnt to wet theyll be reaching up, problem solved.

what ive learned with mg soil is never feed anything untill the fans go lighter green, usually about 6-7 weeks after sprouting. and if your already into flower at this stage u might want to give them the smallest amount of n and just use a bloom nute, mg is high N. again sorry your beans died.

 

[happycamper15]

Mitch- Thanks! As far as water, I will try my cousin's tap water first. A five gallon pail goes a long way with two autos. It has a lot of chlorine, but I let it bubble for 24 hours first. I have test strips for my hot tub that read pH, free chlorine, alkalinity and stabilizer. From these strips, everything seems to be within reason.
As far as seedlings go, I will try to get ahold of some Fox Farm Light Warrior. However, I would like to use some sort of cup/container until sex. I am worried about stunting though.
The 2 liter bottles are okay. Not fond of them tipping, or that I have to water so much. I will use the Tropicana jugs from here on out.
Thanks again!


Iwanna - Thanks for the tips. I plan on sticking with the Tropicana jugs. They hold plenty of soil. I did not add the tiger bloom until a week past sexing, which the Miracle Gro plant's didn't make it past sexing! Next time I will try sexing the plants in a seedling mix and then transplanting into FFOF and MGPS to do a side by side.



Skullz - Thanks! I will take that into consideration.

 

[happycamper15]

Hi folks. Week 8 from seed. Thought Id give my weekly update.

Here come some pics!

The tent all lit up:

Now lets start with Plant 1:
She is swelling up nicely. Some pistils are turning orange and the trich's are really starting to fill in. Two more weeks n chop chop for her. No more feeding. I might try feeding with molasses to increase aroma. What'cha think?

Plant 2:
The main cola on her is FAT! It's the size of an apple!

Not sure if all the macro bud shots belong to plant 2 here. A couple might be plant 1. I forgot to write this down.







Well, how do they look? Like I said, 2 more weeks until I give them the ax.

Any thoughts on molasses?
Worth it?

 

[grimcreeper]

Molasses is worth it. Yes on that one. Brer Rabbit unsulphered is what I use.

 

[grimcreeper]

Those Sour 60 buds look tasty. I'd spark that in a heartbeat brother.

 

[mitch_connor]

I've just started using molasses myself,
I was told you need to do a good flush at the end, so it may be too late to get the benefits from it do you think?

I'm a molasses novice though so don't take that as gospel.

They look like tubby little girls.. you need to fill your cab with those

 

[skullznroses]

Respect Maan!

Nice looking little jungle in there. Those plants have developed nicely. Couldn't really ask for much more, those plants are chu-unky. Keep the goods coming.

 

[mitch_connor]

P.S that dwarf pheno would be very stealthy for a windowbox or balcony grow etc. providing mould isn't an issue..
Let us know the weights come harvest

I've had short and stocky AF's just 25cm tall yield close to an ounce in the past. So i hope you do well.

 

[happycamper15]

Thanks for the comments folks. They are indeed short n chunky little girls.
Mold isn't an issue this time of year, but come summer it is a threat.

I will probably give them the ax this coming weekend. I checked the trichs this morning. 90% cloudy, 5% clear, and 5% amber. They smell wonderful! Both around 10-12" tall from soil. Im hoping for 14g per plant. They are fat buds, so lets shoot high! That will keep me pain free for about two months.
The three little ones are about week 5 I'd say. By the time these two girls are ready to smoke, I'll be chopping the Three new girls!



I'm thinking about starting either the 6 NYLD or the 10 PinkBud. Not sure which to start with for a seedrun!


This is turning into a somewhat perpetual grow! If I can harvest medication once a month, I will be in high spirits!

 

[Claude Hopper]

Nice job, Happy Camper.

I like the perpetual grows. I got tired of the feast and famine of guerrilla grows.It's devastating to invest 4-7 months on an outdoor crop only to see a storm or ripper
wipe everything out in seconds.

 

[happycamper15]

PICTURE HEAVY!

PICTURE HEAVY!

I'm pushing it to the picture limit on this post! 25 pix! Probably only 3 are necessary, but I have a hard time hitting that delete button.

Anyways, it is approx. week 8.5-9. Not quite sure of exact dates, but they were above soil a couple days before xmas.

Harvest is very very close. Now on to some pix.

Here is plant #2. She has yellowed up and died off quite a bit. I took off two side branches that are currently hanging up to dry. I think I will give them a try in a day or two. As for the remainder of the plant, I think I will chop on Sunday.

Note these pix are after removing the sample branches.

Here are those branches that I will be sampling. This should dry out to about 3 grams or so. I put them next to a 1/2 pint canning jar for comparison.

Now to plant #1. This gal is pretty. The first pic is before removing all the dead and dried leaves.

She is pretty hefty. What a little bud-sicle. She wobbles around because the weight of the main cola! I might let this one go another week to see if it gives stronger medical potential at week 10.

Now some pix of plant 1. (Sorry for how many there are. I just love the look of this little banger. Hope you have high speed internet)

These are the 3 young'n plants. They are 3-4 weeks behind.
Something is wrong with the two taller ones. There are black spots on the lower leaves. Not looking as healthy as they could. Any advice?

The last once in the tropicana jug is in the most soil, and is doing very very well. Trich production has already started and is starting to cover even the fan leaves! What a weird mixup of genetics I have here! Although I have never grown it, I imagine this one is primarily of masterlow influence.

Well I hope everyone has enjoyed the picture show. I will keep you posted on how this sample turns out!

Cheers,
HC15

 

[happycamper15]

Chopped the plants on Sunday evening. May have been a little early. Only about 5% amber. Not too worried. I have zero tolerance. I only vape a couple times a week when my back starts acting up.

Here are some pictures. They are currently drying in my basement, which has an ambient temp of 50-60F. Is this too chilly for plants to dry? I hear the slower the better.