Lockedin's 4X4 First(ish) Grow

[Lockedin]

Is your humidity too high? The lack of air circulation would do it. Shame she got bud rot.

Yeah - rh has had some high spikes.
We've had some very foggy mornings here lately and my intake pulls from outside - I had an 84% high on the 24 hour history, but 70% is average.

Circulation seems to be an issue as well - more clip fans coming...

They're almost finished - this and an upcoming trip may force me to chop a little bit early.
They look amazing though, so I'm certainly not complaining.

 

[Lockedin]

Early Smoke Report!!

The buds from the broken branch have dried and spent 3 days in a jar - burped every so often.

I have the house to myself (for now) and thought today would be nice to start tasting.
3 good bong rips. Very "kush". Spices and berries on the exhale, nice immediate head change then a body wave that comes on for 5-ish minutes. That has settled in to a nice, stronger than expected, happy high. - Considering that the remaining plants are MUCH frostier, I'm excited for this harvest!

Harvest --- I made a decision last night and chopped plant #2, the one that had bud rot.
The affected branch is drying in its own paper bag, the rest of the plant is hanging in a wardrobe box.

 

[Lockedin]

Updates & Notes

I ended up taking two plants - #2 & #3.
#2 had budrot on one cola,
#3 just looked ready (but it was a bit early)
Plant 3 spent one extra day hang drying.
After 3 days of jarring, they both taste and work like top-est shelf dispo weed! Flavor and smell seem to improve every day.

Plants #1 & #7 are still throwing white pistils - guess they're still going...
Plants #4 & #5 seem to be wrapping up - trichs are still mostly clear - a few more days.

Looking forward to the next grow:
Equipment
Light(s) - I need more. Either 3 more VA1200 - or a whole new fixture (the VA 1200 would go into a veg tent)
Circulation - more clip fans, maybe another intake fan.
Risers - 6 short plants on the ground is killing my back - also, intake can be placed more intelligently under the raised floor.
PVC Poles - horizontally placed to mount fans / SCROG net.
Ceiling pole - at least one more depending on light purchase.

Grow:
Add perlite (30%) to soil mix - straight soil seems to have compacted too much for good root growth.
Better runoff catchment system.
Auto watering system
Use growth Nute after week 2
Defol more aggressively - canopy ended up a jungle this round; I could have managed lower growth better - I have a lot of larf.
Use Flower Girl @50% strength; work up to 100% (50% dose is not burning them now)
Wait longer to top - I slowed them down a bit topping them as soon as node 6 showed up.
Veg longer - I vegged 28 days. Another week or so would allow for better growth (combined with topping).
SCROG - my current crop is having trouble supporting itself - buds are way too heavy for branches. Also will make canopy organisation easier.

 

[Lockedin]

Chopped em 09/02.

More bud shots to come.

Overall I'm really happy with how this grow turned out.
I'll have an approximate weight - but I'm already digging into the cookie jar (notes below) and - Weight was not really a goal on this grow, just weed.


Issues & lessons:
LIGHTS - Made the noob mistake and discovered that those Amazon grow tent kits aren't exactly honest.... I went from one light that "would flower a 4x4 at 18"" - to that light (VA 1200), 3 "300w" burples & a bar. Lesson learned, the VA 1200 will go into a veg enclosure soon.
Longer veg (maybe) - I didn't listen to my plants and feel I flipped them a week or so early; they stayed really short - Tallest cola was 28 in. off the soil.
I'll listen better this round - except to the flowering schedule on the back of my seed package...
Move slow, then slow down a bit more - I broke 2 branches in veg and one in flower.
Low rh / hi temps in veg - humidifier on standby
Hi rh / hi temps in flower - purchasing a dehumidifier from a local marine shop & a shut-off sensor (typed while high, not sorry!)
Poor circulation in TWO corners earned me budrot on two colas - and an extra bleach wipe down or two before grow #2. More fans.
HERMIE - plant number 6 hermed, and I didn't quite catch it in time. I'm finding seeds in some of my buds (early harvest) - expecting more.
Solution - purchased better genetics for the next run (these plants came from hermie seeds - so no surprises there).

Positives
Seed to Smoke - proved I can (mostly) follow instructions, and gained a decent, but still admittedly noob grasp of growing - this is a DEEP rabbit hole!
Manifolding made chopping really simple & easy - I just hung a bunch of horseshoe shaped branch sections.
Thoroughly enjoyed the experience - I spend enough time in there to annoy my Wife & I'm planning upgrades, so I guess I'm hooked.
Even though it's a bit early, my first 2 plants taste, smell, smoke and work better than most top shelf dispo! --- except for the occasional seed.
We take a bowl while burping the jars; the consistency, flavor and scent seem to improve every day. I know there's other ways, but I learned this one fairly well, so that's what I'm doing for this harvest.

Picture Day 2 hang drying - fan leaves removed, tent is 63rh / 76f. A few more days and into jars. edit - and a trim

 

[Kushash]

I'm going to try to keep a habit of posting pics on Saturday nights so that I can see weekly progress.
Goal: Seed to smoke. Keeping it as simple as possible - just FFOF & maybe some food in flower - I want a baseline before I start trying new things.
All comments welcome.

All 7 babies are 1.5 inch tall and have their first true leaves.
Light was set 100% on both dimmers, hung 28" from top of pots.
18/6 schedule.
FFOF soil.

Fighting with high temp & low humidity a bit - 85f / 41%rh
Reconfigured current ventilation and that helped, but I need to get at least one more fan and some duct.
I think the rh will fix itself as the babies grow.

Nice Thread!
I was scrolling through to the pictures at the bottom of the 1st page and was impressed with the quality (high brix) of the plants to that point at the end of veg.
Wasn't surprised when I saw you were growing with ffof. Glad you shared pics with @Budzbuddha.
ffof gets a bad rap but few who use it take the approach you do in the part I put in bold.
Those who do take the approach you do that fail most likely improperly watered.
Looks like you had the watering pattern down in veg.
Nice Work!

 

[Grower610]

Chopped em 09/02.

More bud shots to come.

Overall I'm really happy with how this grow turned out.
I'll have an approximate weight - but I'm already digging into the cookie jar (notes below) and - Weight was not really a goal on this grow, just weed.


Issues & lessons:
LIGHTS - Made the noob mistake and discovered that those Amazon grow tent kits aren't exactly honest.... I went from one light that "would flower a 4x4 at 18"" - to that light (VA 1200), 3 "300w" burples & a bar. Lesson learned, the VA 1200 will go into a veg enclosure soon.
Longer veg (maybe) - I didn't listen to my plants and feel I flipped them a week or so early; they stayed really short - Tallest cola was 28 in. off the soil.
I'll listen better this round - except to the flowering schedule on the back of my seed package...
Move slow, then slow down a bit more - I broke 2 branches in veg and one in flower.
Low rh / hi temps in veg - humidifier on standby
Hi rh / hi temps in flower - purchasing a dehumidifier from a local marine shop & a shut-off sensor (typed while high, not sorry!)
Poor circulation in TWO corners earned me budrot on two colas - and an extra bleach wipe down or two before grow #2. More fans.
HERMIE - plant number 6 hermed, and I didn't quite catch it in time. I'm finding seeds in some of my buds (early harvest) - expecting more.
Solution - purchased better genetics for the next run (these plants came from hermie seeds - so no surprises there).

Positives
Seed to Smoke - proved I can (mostly) follow instructions, and gained a decent, but still admittedly noob grasp of growing - this is a DEEP rabbit hole!
Manifolding made chopping really simple & easy - I just hung a bunch of horseshoe shaped branch sections.
Thoroughly enjoyed the experience - I spend enough time in there to annoy my Wife & I'm planning upgrades, so I guess I'm hooked.
Even though it's a bit early, my first 2 plants taste, smell, smoke and work better than most top shelf dispo! --- except for the occasional seed.
We take a bowl while burping the jars; the consistency, flavor and scent seem to improve every day. I know there's other ways, but I learned this one fairly well, so that's what I'm doing for this harvest.

Picture Day 2 hang drying - fan leaves removed, tent is 63rh / 76f. A few more days and into jars. edit - and a trimView attachment 4674217

Awesome journal and beautiful plants man hoping my little plant will grow as big and beautiful as yours kudos

 

[Lockedin]

Realized I never posted a final weight.
Again, weight wasn't in my goals - just healthy plants and good weed.

That said, I wasn't even a little curious about weighing until I had to go buy more mason jars - I had a lot more than I expected!
We smoked and gave away about an ounce so far, and I ended up with 15 1pint mason jars and 3 large plastic containers.

Bud - appx. 10 oz.
Larf & Trim - 3 oz.

I still can't quite get over how satisfying it is to smoke my own from seed, and gifting friends & neighbors has been really fun.
My second grow is underway - time to conclude this journal and get the OG Kush grow into gear - they're getting their first true leaves as I type.

 

[Hobbes]