My first grow, i.e. a crazy crash course on cannabis cultivation

[Dready_jake]

Have you read up on the details of 'scrog'. Not actually doing it but you know how they will cut off bits if they aren't keeping up with the others to 'focus energy'. You could use those ideas and heavily prune the side brances of the plants so you could keep them all. Lol sometimes I have trouble killing plants.

One time I threw one away and it stayed alive in the trash can far over a week!

 

[Kweku Ananse]

Have you read up on the details of 'scrog'. Not actually doing it but you know how they will cut off bits if they aren't keeping up with the others to 'focus energy'. You could use those ideas and heavily prune the side brances of the plants so you could keep them all. Lol sometimes I have trouble killing plants.

One time I threw one away and it stayed alive in the trash can far over a week!

Lol! ^^^

Also, I will be doing a mean lollipopping this weekend to take off those that aren't keeping up, and this should give us the proper amount of space. I'm just barely overgrown, but the girls need a little more personal space since they aren't clones of the same dna. Clones "know" their sisters and are polite. They stick to their own areas. Conversely two different dna will fight and compete for space and resources. This first grow has WAY too many variables. I'm very excited to get this one under my belt, accept my losses along with all I've learned, and move on.

I'm the type of person who likes to plan before starting something. Consequently I was unable to do that on round one. From now on I assume I'll be getting closer to proper treatment right out of the gates.

Thanks!
-Kweku

 

[Dready_jake]

Definitely. I feel environment might be 80% of growing. Haha the other 20 is the grower.
Feel free to check out my girls I'd appreciate to hear your opinion!

 

[Kweku Ananse]

Its been a minute since my last post. We moved the operation, temps shot down to a much better place, but without any exhaust whatsoever (I have no scrubber - and don't intend to have one - so I'm trying to keep the air "in"), the humidity spiked to "tent rain" levels...

Needless to say, I'm sure anyone reading this thread knows that the thing I currently prioritize most is ENVIRONMENT, I went on a weeklong bender of buying a humidifier, building a sealed box to house it with ducting going from it to each tent both exhaust and intake, and calibrating my new humidistat/outlet controller.

For the record, never trust a humidistat/hygrometer that is part of an appliance. It says on the box DEHUMIDIFIER, and that is the only thing one should intend to use this machine for. The humidistat is simply a feature that cost them 5¢, to justify adding another $35 at retail... fucking capitalist scheming...

ANYWAY! The humidity is locked in where I need it and temps are a degree higher than I'd like @ 84º day / 72º night. I think I can get that lower with changing the ventilation plan, I have it currently in series, which blows for one tent and sucks for the other. LOL! Seriously its hilarious... like 6"+ of ex/implode. I now realize that parallel loops will provide me with better exhaust, and I believe that will take my temps lower than the current blow-in rather than pull-out. Now that the shop is open again (gotta love Mondays for some reason) I'll go grab some more ducting and take some photos of the final setup. Report back tonight! When the second tent goes to flower, night temps will be the same as day temps, and I'll try to get it slightly lower. Maybe just under 80º, we shall decide when CO2 levels are stable.

On to some visuals.


Here is the canopy on day one of flower, before I added any exhaust ventilation fans/ducting.


A shot of my air circulation/water pump timer control panel, the large oscillating fan moves air very well across three quadrants of the tent, and the two smaller clip fans provide decent movement to the last corner home to short stunty lil' Purple Berry.


Speaking of Purple Berry, here is one of her "recovering" leaves (shown right, Cookies Kush left). This leaf was completely yellow a few days ago, I think the fresh nutes and lower temps are breathing life back into this sickly little girl. Any input on how to translate this leaf-communication? Thanks!


I have my LEDs positioned in an L, giving a slightly less intense quadrant, which I put my indica dominant plants into. They seem to appreciate getting out of the direct blast. On the other hand, my sativa dominant hybrids are loving the juice.


And here is the Titan Eos 1. All you need as far as ventilation control if you're running a closed system on LEDs with a constant day/night alternate, which requires a constant temp/VPD.

When it becomes day again tonight at 8pm pacific time I'll take a few 1week bud shots. I have to say I'm astonished at the development in such a short time... Marijuana is beautiful and I'm so grateful for the chance to pursue this dream of cultivating connoisseur quality cannabis.

Peace
-Kweku Ananse

 

[Dready_jake]

I've heard that a rise and fall in tenp between day and night helps the plant systems operate properly but well find out if that's really true eh? And ya everyone talks about how crazy growth is with proper air movement and VPD.

 

[NoSocSlic]

This is looking great Kweku, impressive canopy! I happy you are doing so well. 84 degrees is a bit hot, and I've noticed in my own grows that especially a series of hot days (days the door is shut) will bring out nute deficiencies. That looks like magnesium deficiency to me. I had calcium def. in mine, when I supplemented molasses the added calcium has improved the leaves, but the temps have been down also. It is probably a combination of the two, hotter temps = more mag.

 

[Dready_jake]

If co2 is utilized any temp can be reached (almost) that being said I don't remember if he uses co2 at this exact moment lol

 

[Kweku Ananse]

I've heard that a rise and fall in tenp between day and night helps the plant systems operate properly but well find out if that's really true eh? And ya everyone talks about how crazy growth is with proper air movement and VPD.

I can see this being true, but plant temps will change between day/night due to the IR wavelengths and light heat. I imagine that the day tent will be a degree or two warmer (leaf temperature) than the night tent which isn't being exposed to photo radiation. Now that being said, a constant AIR temp simply means I can set my humidity levels to constant to maintain optimal VPD. I'm not sure if my lights use infrared LEDs but I can definitely feel some heat in the beam, and cooler off center. So yeah, there WILL be temp rise/fall even if just a couple degrees.

I fell asleep last night after finishing my ventilation. I'll get them budshots for ye tonight.

Thanks!

 

[Kweku Ananse]

This is looking great Kweku, impressive canopy! I happy you are doing so well. 84 degrees is a bit hot, and I've noticed in my own grows that especially a series of hot days (days the door is shut) will bring out nute deficiencies. That looks like magnesium deficiency to me. I had calcium def. in mine, when I supplemented molasses the added calcium has improved the leaves, but the temps have been down also. It is probably a combination of the two, hotter temps = more mag.

Interesting that you say this. I recently switched from 3:1 cal/mag 2-0-0 to 5:1 cal/mag 1-0-0 and have seen inprovement in those plants. I think VPD is what's important. Not temps individually necessarily. But the combination of rh with it.

With the addition of CO2, plants close their stomata which acts like an anti transpirant, concurrently giving a LOAD of raw material for photo synthesis. Since the plant is holding more water due to lessened transpiration, it can handle more heat. Outdoor growers will spray anti transpirant on those days when temps just get too high to be good for anything green - because you can't a/c the outdoors... Now if VPD is too high, or %rh too low, the dry air pulls moisture out of a plant, the same way salt buildup in soil can pull water back out. If VPD is too low, or %rh too high, I fear mold will build up/ light burn from water droplets forming on leaves. EDIT: Maybe would produce symptoms of overwatering as well...?

My target:
1500ppm CO2
<85°
77%rh
Which gives a VPD of approx. 0.85, ideal for cannabis.

 

[Kweku Ananse]

If co2 is utilized any temp can be reached (almost) that being said I don't remember if he uses co2 at this exact moment lol

I have some DIY CO2 running yeast/sugar/water but its apparent to me now that the plants are officially past the point of little bottles. Might have a lead on a tank, I'll let you know when I get my hands on one. but you're right, like my post above touched on. Once you hit - I think it's 5000fc - CO2 absorbtion rates maximize, meaning the plant will saturate and close stomata sooner, allowing the plant to keep its water, up to about 85° at 1500ppm. The absorbtion rate tops of at around 86° so that is about max temp I would run even with CO2. But that temp would require 80%rh for a VPD of 0.85. Getting sticky...

So anything past 86° will pass the threshold of stoma-closing 1500ppm CO2, because the plant will have to open its stomata to cool itself once again. Perhaps you could keep moisture in by lowering your VPD, but then it's missing out on the raw material. So like my target above showed, closing stomata by giving more CO2 than the plants need allows temps up to 86 to maximize the absorbtion rate, thus increasing glucose from photosynthesis. Remember these numbers mean shit if you don't have the light intensity to drive this physiological reaction. The temp opens the stomata to transpire, consequently providing optimal gas exchange, and the VPD acts as a phantom stoma. Vapor pressure holds the moisture inside the leaf because we set it to be equal pressure outside the leaf.

Now we have a perfect balance of open stomata, absorbing as much CO2 as they can, while losing less water. Remember, the more water and CO2 the plant holds on to, the more glucose, and thus more organic matter produced. THIS is why the VPD guys get huge numbers when adding CO2. Just a theory, let me know if my "science" is inaccurate.

Thanks for the kind words again!
-Kweku Ananse

 

[NoSocSlic]

I agree, especially with good ventilation and added CO2, but still 84 isn't really that bad. A plant can grow in hotter than that. I try and keep mine around 79F, when it gets hot in there I know to add a bit of calcium to their water. I'm glad your plants bounced back.

I am taking a far simper approach to my grow. I like the science of breeding a lot, but my grow is bare basics. I use tap water and molasses with Fox Farms soil and CFL's I have still learned a ton in two years though. I love growing this plant!

 

[Kweku Ananse]

I have a dehumidifier inside a sealed box that I fixed up, plugged into an outlet that is switched by the Eos 1 humidistat in my tent. The six inch inline fan pulls "exhaust" from the top of the tent through 4" ducting, joined by a wye at the fan, which then pushes air into the box and at the front intake of the dehumidifier. The exit fan of the dehumidifier is at the top, which is ducted through a wye, supplying each tent with a six inch "intake". The air is always circulating, equalizing inside the dehum. box. I've noticed a temp/humidity difference of about 5-10° and ~5% humidity between the day tent and the night tent. This will be very groovy once my second tent goes to flower!!! Near perfect night fluctuations. We shall see how consistent I can keep it. Anyway, check it out.


Here you can see the wye's, 6" for intake and 4" for exhaust, as well as the main duct connecting the blow side of the inline fan to the front of the box.


Another angle.

Now onto those procrastinated bud shots!

First up, Mendo Purps.

 

[Kweku Ananse]

A couple more of the Mendo Purps.



Charlie Cooper. Still... No one with info on this strain?



Purple Berry. Comin' back little by little.

 

[Kweku Ananse]

Cookies Kush. Frantic.



Chemdawg '91 labeled "b"

 

[Kweku Ananse]

Another Chemdawg '91, labeled "j"



Ak-47



Grandaddy OG



And my ninth plant, which I guess you guys have never counted before - I have yet to reveal! I've heard it's very difficult to grow, but my girlfriend brought it home, and I've nursed it back to health from near death. I love this plant. I can't wait to see what comes of these flowers... But I guess I'll have to... 12-14week flowering time!!!? Wowza!

 

[Kweku Ananse]

Dr. Grinspoon. Wonder if I got a legitimate phenotype...



Enjoy!
-Kweku

 

[Kweku Ananse]

Another of Mendo Purps. My pride and joy.

 

[Kweku Ananse]

Updated the ventilation.


The six inch fan pulling a 2x4" wye duct left pressure mismatches in the tents, and therefore humidity accumulation. So I removed the fan and placed the wye directly on the flange.


Now each tent has its own 4" fan mounted to the ceiling in the opposite corner from the low intake 6" duct. I believe this is going to give a more consistent humidity reading in both tents.

Peace.
-Kweku

 

[Boyd Crowder]

man you pulling out the stops on this grow - you going commercial like next grow , right?

 

[Kweku Ananse]

man you pulling out the stops on this grow - you going commercial like next grow , right?

Lol nah... efficiency is key. If I can get a collective going that would be rad. But I can only support 30 plants legally as the grower for two medical patients. I suppose I have to stay small til I can prove myself to the dispensaries, and if the demand rises for my product, I can't say I would mind changing my profession.

But yes... I'm a "If you're gonna do it, go all the way.." kind of chap.

-Kweku