PoorDad's Tent

[PoorDad]

Sewn Sep-08-2023
Popped up Sep-13-2023

This is my 1st time with autos. I'm used to growing with regular photos.

I'm using a 2 chamber tent. The flowering area is 48 x 48 x 80 inches. The seedling area is 48 x 12 x 80 inches.

Tent:
I'm using a Vivosun tent.

Amazon.com

Royal Queen Seeds
Northern Light auto
Royal Cheese auto

Seedling Lights:
2 @42 watts

Amazon.com

Vegging Lights:
2 @65 watts full spectrum

Amazon.com

Flowering Light:
1 @239 watts full spectrum

Amazon.com

Soil:
Fox Farms Ocean Forest (5 parts)
Vermiculite (3 parts)
Perlite (3 parts)
Sphagnum peat moss (4 parts)

3g fabric pots

I'm using carbon filtered tap water and pH down right now. My plan is to let the soil feed them until I see signs of hunger, then I'll start adding food to their water.

 

[Creeperpark]

Using large pots of Ocean Forest will have plenty of nutrients for 4 to 6 weeks. I would only use pure water for a while to keep from burning the plants.

Be careful because adding Vermiculite (3 parts) will hold more water causing excess water retention and can cause root rot.

Sphagnum peat moss has a pH of 3.9 to 4.2 and will drop the pH into a low range causing an acidic environment and releasing more nutrients than the plant can use. Keep us posted.

 

[PoorDad]

I'm using a mix very similar to what Royal Queen Seeds recommended for the autos. Only difference is the Ocean Forest vs their recommended plain organic soil. If they die, I'll start over. I'm not gonna mess with em now. It's supposed to be a light, airy mix for their autos.

Yes, I'm only using water for now. I am looking at soil and water pH. They seem okay right now.

I've used fabric pots before and noted that they tend to dry out quickly. Not overly worried about the vermiculite either. Last time I used fabric pots, 7g, I was watering 2 times a day to finish them.

 

[goingrey]

I'm using a mix very similar to what Royal Queen Seeds recommended for the autos. Only difference is the Ocean Forest vs their recommended plain organic soil. If they die, I'll start over. I'm not gonna mess with em now. It's supposed to be a light, airy mix for their autos.

Yes, I'm only using water for now. I am looking at soil and water pH. They seem okay right now.

I've used fabric pots before and noted that they tend to dry out quickly. Not overly worried about the vermiculite either. Last time I used fabric pots, 7g, I was watering 2 times a day to finish them.

They look fine.

 

[PoorDad]

Almost got that 3rd set of leaves. 1 more day hopefully.

 

[PoorDad]

Morning peek into the tent. Happy to see dampened soil this morning. A good sign that they're not drying out overnight. It's been my experience that if you let little seedlings like this wilt, they're pretty much done. Given this is my 1st run of autos, I'm trying to be super careful about shock of any kind. I don't want to induce flowering early.

Pretty happy so far. These are the fastest growing beans I've ever popped. We are day 8/9 so far. Planted Sep 8th. Popped up Sep 13th/14th

 

[PoorDad]

Sep 28, 2023

 

[PoorDad]

Sep 29, 2023

 

[PoorDad]

Been a little while.

 

[PoorDad]

Next round.
Mimosa and Quick One. They outgrew the 4x4 tent so they were moved into a 4x8 tent. I decided to add some side lighting since there is room in the larger tent.

 

[PoorDad]

While those are busy flowering, I started the next round. 3 of them in 3g pots.
One of the Northern Lights is in a small 1g pot so it will finish quick.
These are a week old. They're up and almost 8 inches tall now.

Northern Lights x 2
Cookies Gelato
Wedding Cake

 

[Creeperpark]

It just keeps getting better with every grow. Thanks for sharing your work friend. You are doing a good job.

 

[oldmaninbc]

Next round.
Mimosa and Quick One. They outgrew the 4x4 tent so they were moved into a 4x8 tent. I decided to add some side lighting since there is room in the larger tent. View attachment 18952551 View attachment 18952552 View attachment 18952553 View attachment 18952554

I was wondering if a LED could be positioned other than from above. I have an old Magnum LED light that would be suitable for this purpose. You have indirectly answered my question, Thanks.

 

[PoorDad]

Here is a shot of the 4x8 tent from a few days ago. This is Mimosa on the right, and Quick One on the left. Week 5-ish of flower.

Side lighting is 4 cheap boxes from Amazon. I'm only running them on the bloom setting since we're flowering. I have them adjusted to hit the plants around 8--10 inches below the top canopy. The top gets plenty from above. The side lighting made mpst of the lower shadows disappear. My PPFD went from ~20--40 up to 300--400 in some places. Obviously it's not gonna get the whole plant, but I'm happy with the affects after just a few days. Its OBVIOUS this is helping. You can see where the lights have been hitting the lower parts and where they haven't. It's plain as day. Super happy.

 

[PoorDad]

Mimosa and Quick One are almost done. Mimosa is a few days ahead of Quick One. I'm checking trichs every couple days now. Mimosa is definitely not a heavy producer. Buds are thin and spaced far apart. I'm not shocked or upset. It's mostly sativa. You can tell just by looking at the fingers on the leaves. They're very long and thin.
She's been slowly fading for almost 3 weeks. I stopped giving her any food this past week. She wants a drink every 2--3 days and the last 2 times have been just pH'd water. Trichs are 100% cloudy. I'm waiting for a little amber in the heads. Not too much. I'm also waiting for her hair to turn orange. She's got some orange but not enough yet.

First 3 pics are Mimosa

QUICK ONE
Last pic is Quick One. She's packed on quite a bit of weight in the last 2 weeks. I'm impressed by the size and production. She's as big, or bigger than the breeder indicates for an outdoor grown seed. It's not stretch either. I'm not sitting here with a stretched out plant and claiming she's a big girl. She really does have nice tight node spacing and great branch structure. It's been very hard NOT to defoliate just a little. I've been very good and not touched her at all. I know a lot of people would have, and might think I'm wrong for letting her grow naturally. I'm conscious of my decision. I did this on purpose because I wanted to see what she would look like without any LST or defoliation. I tend NOT to defoliate anyway. I do like LST and have done that to Mimosa (bottom 4 branches were pulled away and tied down). I'm happy with Quick One. It's a nice bushy plant that I can see being a heavy producer with some LST. I've got more seeds so the next one gets the bondage treatment.

I'll post pics of the little ones later today. Northern Lights, Cookies Gelato and Wedding Cake are going batshit crazy in the 4x4 tent. That's gonna be a fun run.

 

[PoorDad]

Mimosa got chopped today.

I'll post a pic inside the drying tent later. I'm using a hanging net type inside a 4x4 tent for now.

 

[PoorDad]

Here is Mimosa in the drying tent. Running around +/- 54% humidity and 63f in this tent. I turn/rotate the buds twice a day.

 

[PoorDad]

Next round was started today. These are autos. Northern Lights, Jack Heror, and Mimosa.

 

[PoorDad]

This is the group that was started Jan 14th. Left to right:
Northern Lights 1
Wedding Cake
Northern Lights 2 (small pot)
Cookies Gelato

NL 1 and Wedding Cake are both starting to flower.

NL 2 and Cookies Gelato are still veggin.

Humidity and temp

 

[PoorDad]

Still goin.