Penguin's Micro Grow II- Aurora Indica

[Penguin59]

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Hi friends,

This is my second grow growing organically and in a small tent set up so wish me luck! The two girls below have just finished their first week of flowering; I let them veg for 4 weeks before that. They are both Nirvana Aurora Indica and I will update photos weekly at the end of each flowering week.

I began the first flowering week by giving the plants an initial 24 hours of uninterrupted darkness. I know there is a bit of controversy surrounding this practice but it's something I have always done before the flowering cycle and have seen no ill effects so far.

After one week of flowering the plants are looking very green and healthy so this should be a good show! All comments and suggestions are more than welcome. Hope you enjoy the pics:

Female calyx developing, one pistil can just be seen

My favourite leaf

Penguin

 

[TommyKarma]

Nice plants, I'll follow this. I'm also growing Aurora Indica at the moment. Mine are 15 days old since they first sprouted. I was thinking of vegging them for 4 weeks also, although I would like mine to be a bit bigger, I got the room for it. Good luck!

 

[grow_right]

but why are you flowering them so small?

 

[DeoXy]

but why are you flowering them so small?

OP did say its a microgrow in the thread title.. so prob. very limited headroom would b my guess.. + it looks to b a short n stocky indica variety to begin with.

anyways keep up the good work penguin.. those ladies look green n healthy.. look forward to updates

 

[Penguin59]

Hey TommyKarma! Thanks for stopping by the thread. I've found that this strain is a bit on the slow side to veg but the internodes are SO compact. I'm predicting that by the time it goes into full flower the buds will be very dense. If you have the space, veg them as long as you can be patient friend If you happen to make a thread of your own I'd love to see some of your pics to compare phenos!

DeoXy had it right, I'm short on space in my closet tent so that's why they're so small. I'm lucky that they seem to be quite a stocky strain. They didn't stretch much after the flip, just got very very bushy.

Hope you fellas can stick around for the show!

Penguin

 

[DeoXy]

I'll deff. b watching the show .. whats your opinion on nirvana seeds? I have never tried them but I've been seeing some awesome plants lately from their seed stock.. they have a few strains that sound good and are priced right.

 

[Hempe]

very very nice

 

[izzybud]

looking good!

 

[Penguin59]

Hi Hempe, thanks for stopping by and for the kind words mate!

DeoXy, my opinion of Nirvana's stock is quite, quite high. Have grown out a white widow from them previously and got some fantastic, keeper plants. Check out the link in my signature for "Darwin's Micro Grow", I think you'll be impressed with the results. Nirvana is amazing value for their cheap price I've found.

Penguin

 

[Penguin59]

Thanks for stopping by izzybud!

Penguin

 

[Bueno Time]

Nice little plants there. They look healthy and happy.

 

[Penguin59]

Cheers, Bueno Time. Hope you can stick around for the show brother!

Penguin

 

[Penguin59]

Tent Modifications

Tent Modifications

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd give a quick update on the grow for you all. The new carbon filter and ducting I ordered online turned up the other day so I didn't waste any time hooking them up to the tent! I think over the past couple of days it has really improved the vigor of the plants.

To give you an idea of the closet size space I'm working with I attached some more pics. Let me know what you guys think of the new hardware.

Closet half closed, completely hidden if both doors closed
Dimensions: 0.8 H x 0.45m D x 0.8 W or (31.5" H x 17.5" D x 31.5" W)
Fresh air enters via inline fan at rear of tent.

Exhaust ducting from the inside of the tent which goes outside to the scrubber

Ducting connected to a 250cfm fan and carbon filter
Trimming scissors in view!

Two slightly distinct phenotypes here. Quite a stable line from Nirvana it seems. Leaf shape and node length appear to be identical.
Both plants are bushy and healthy as hell too

Now that the better ventilation is finally hooked up, I will try to swap back to my 250w HPS bulb and ballast and see how the temps go. Last time they skyrocketed and I had to go back to CFLs.

Penguin

 

[b00m]

Looking happy and healthy in here Penguin mate
Only thing I can see that might be an issue is your venting into the same area as the tent and in our summer time that will become a problem as the tent will be taking in the heated extracted air, even more so with the wardrobe door half closed or closed. Can you cool the bedroom temps down?? If so then you'll be sweet

 

[Bueno Time]

A couple questions for you.

Where does your intake come into the tent and what size is the intake?

What size is the exhaust ducting diameter and what size is the hole on the tent the duct goes through? It looks kind of smashed in the picture.

I thought you had the same tent as me but it is slightly different. Mine is .5" more depth, 2" less width, and 4.5" taller than yours VERY similar size. I see your ducting setup is different on that tent though so if you can get some specs on the exhaust duct size and maybe a couple pics of the intake vent I want to see if I can help improve your airflow.

Also what is your ambient room temperature and what temp does your tent currently run at?

Installing the 8" duct on my tent last night dropped temps 3-4 degrees at plant level which was HUGE for me.

I also forgot to mention that I dont need those extra two pc fans I told you about now the tent runs cooler and more efficient the exhaust sucking the air out pulls air over the plants with almost too much force blowing the plants around so I definitely dont need any internal fans other than the one on the bulb now which is awesome.

Looks like a nice setup very much like mine basically same size tents in closets.
I will stick around for your show!

 

[Penguin59]

Hey b00m. Thanks for weighing in on the grow mate, really appreciate your help!

That's a very good point you raised about the outside ventilation. Because the large scrubber I bought seems to be controlling the odors very well I will be fortunate enough to be able to leave both closet doors open virtually 24/7. I will only have to close the doors when we have guests over. It's frustrating that the only inline vent on the tent is on the back, close to the floor.

I may need to look at getting the ambient temps in the room down a bit. I'm predicting a hot summer is on the way for us!

Penguin

 

[Penguin59]

Hey Bueno Time, lots of great questions here mate. I will try to answer them as best I can to give you a better idea of my setup.

At the moment my only intake is a 6", 250 cfm fan on the back of the tent, close to the floor. It's just a bare fan in that vent hole at the moment. I don't have enough room between the back of the tent and the closet wall to install any ducting that could draw air in from the front unless you have any ideas? Your brand grow tent is a lot better designed than mine for vent holes I must say.

The exhaust ducting is 6" wide but the hole in the tent is only 4" wide, another poor design. Funny that you noticed that I had to squish the ducting a bit to get it through the side hole. This shouldn't be a problem though as I can comfortably put my whole arm through the exhaust vent hole and the air seems to be flowing fine.

My ambient room temps are fine, around the 23c mark or (73f). Tent temps are around 24c or (75f). Would be great if you could give me some advice on how to maximize air flow.

When you get a spare minute too, would be great if you could link me a pic of your new inline adapter. I'm watching your thread very closely for tips!


Penguin

 

[Bueno Time]

If your ambient is 73 and tent is 75 that is very good temp wise. You are using a fan for intake and a different fan for exhaust? Sorry I am a little confused still.

I am only running an exhaust fan with no intake fan just the passive intake of air as the exhaust pulls air through the tent. I dont need fans on the plants at all now with the intake installed low in the tent it blows the plants very well as the air moves through.

Here is a little picture of the 8" intake flange kit installed. $16.50 total cost with shipping on ebay and honestly the single biggest improvement I have made to any cab or tent I have had. My temps went from 9-10 degrees F above ambient room temp to only 3-4 degrees F above room temp.

What was your temp like with the 250 in the tent?

 

[Penguin59]

End of Flowering Week 2

End of Flowering Week 2

Hey everyone,

Just a small update and some pics at the end of week 2 of flowering. She's throwing up sets of calyxes and pistils at most of the nodes of the main stem and some of the lateral branches now. Nothing crazy yet but I hope this next week she picks up the pace a little bit. She's just gotten very bushy this week.


A couple of days ago, I changed the lighting system from a 130w CFL bulb to a 250w HPS bulb. The ventilation is still reasonably good inside the tent but the temps are now hovering around the 27c-28c (80f-82f) mark instead of 24c (75f).

Let me know if you guys think the plants are still looking healthy or whether I should swap back to CFLs if you think it's too hot for them now?




Sorry for the quality of these pics but I didn't have time to turn off the HPS light to take better shots.
To stop the leaves and branches getting too close to the light I've LST'd a couple of the branches down with some pipe cleaners.

Hey Bueno Time, here I've uploaded a photo of my intake fan which is separate from my exhaust system. Like I said it's just a bare fan in the vent hole at the moment. I ordered some more ducting online today which I will connect to this fan and then stretch the ducting around the back of the tent to the front. Your passive intake hole is looking awesome by the way.

Penguin

 

[Bueno Time]

A couple of days ago, I changed the lighting system from a 130w CFL bulb to a 250w HPS bulb. The ventilation is still reasonably good inside the tent but the temps are now hovering around the 27c-28c (80f-82f) mark instead of 24c (75f).

Let me know if you guys think the plants are still looking healthy or whether I should swap back to CFLs if you think it's too hot for them now?

Hey Bueno Time, here I've uploaded a photo of my intake fan which is separate from my exhaust system. Like I said it's just a bare fan in the vent hole at the moment. I ordered some more ducting online today which I will connect to this fan and then stretch the ducting around the back of the tent to the front. Your passive intake hole is looking awesome by the way.
View Image


Penguin

Thanks for the pic it makes sense now. I would keep the 250w in there 80-82 isnt really that bad if you arent seeing any heat stress issues with the plants, I would leave it in there.

Also that is a good idea with the intake ducting to route the fresh air from the front to the back.