caddy's Journal #1 - Papaya & Haze 19 x Skunk #1

Go by the meter reading
-you can take them up to 800ppm by adding some more nutes with no probs-thats still relatively weak. My girls are at 1600ppm by week 3 on the veg tray with the rest of mature mums. Clones in flower go straight into a solution at 1400-1540ppm the first day they get nutes. They eat that shit up.

keep ph at 5.8(+,-.1)

Alright I'll keep an eye on the meter then and ensure its calibrated each time I do the check. I went in this morning and from the addition last night to get to the recommended dosage the PPM was 760. I'll get it bumped up to a little over 800 later this evening.

Well here we are at the end of the 2nd week of vegetation. The beginning of this week started off with approximately 600 ppm of the Advanced Nutrients 2+ program starting with Sensi Grow A & B.

As you can clearly see there has been a rather large explosion of growth. Besides the plants beginning to grow in height and width they are staying compact and bushy with no type of stretching. There is a clear difference between the Papaya on the left and Haze 19 x Skunk #1 on the right. Papaya hangs low to the ground and gets plush while Haze 19 x Skunk #1 stays bushy but gets much taller and fatter. I am slightly regretting putting two of the haze 19 x skunk#1's in one net pot but over time we'll see how it pans out anyway. Another few weeks and these will start to be cloned to determine who is who in this mix and become mothers to produce for a flower room waiting.

As usual the pH is dialed in at 5.8 (+/- .1). I've slowly added a little more nutrient solution over the first 3 days and at the present moment here are our following stats.

Ambient Room Temperature: 79 degrees
Water Temperature: 70 degrees
PPM: 1051 (123 out of faucet)
pH: 5.84

On with the pictures - Tomorrow morning will be kicking of the first day of week 3, slowly will be increasing to approximately 1200PPM (-123) to get around a low 1100PPM for this next week.

-Edit-
Two additional notes, in the second and third picture it may appear as if they are a bright yellowish hue or that the leaves are dropping quite a bit but in fact every night about 2 hours before lights out they start sagging just a tad. About 3 hours after lights on all limbs are lifted up toward the light. All represent the dark bold green that the 4th picture shows. Just wanted to toss that out there in case anyone was mislead.

CADDY looks good brotha! Thanks for the update sir...Nice healthy, compact, tight lil plants u have there...Looks like they are really starving for more light tho bro..I think at this stage if u had a small M/H to put over those, in a weeks time or so u would see a major growth explosion..
I dont know what ur final veg hieghts are,or i should say ur max hieght in ur flower room would be a better question...
I recently vegged my NLxHAZE clones to 10 inches and they have doubled in size in the first couple weeks of flower...Keep them compact, ur main growth explosion will come in flower and be carefull cuz plants can damn near tripple in size during flower.

Listen to everything OLD has to say! This man has the nicest grow OP ive seen on here! + reps SIRS

Thanks big guy, appreciate the input. The final flowering height is about 7 feet, as for the lights it does look a little pale in there but the SLR settings i'm using are hueing out the brighter light, it is actually quite sunny in there, albeit more would help don't get me wrong, the shutter speed and aperture of my photos can make it appear much less than it is for lighting.

UPDATE - 12/3/2008

Added another 120 ppm increase of Sensi Grow 2+ A & B last night getting the final PPM value tested this morning at 1151 ppm in the reservoir. (**Edit** - For clarification the 1151ppm is the actual nutrient PPM with the subtraction of 135ppm taken into account which is the PPM of our water out of the faucet, combined it would be 1286 ppm with nutrient + out of faucet initial PPM.) The plants are absolutely banging bold green and as vibrant as ever pushing toward the light staying compact and growing nodes like its going out of business.

Week 3 from sprout will end this saturday and will update with more pictures. From the last picture update they have grown considerably in height and girth, can't wait to see the next 3 days before the saturday night pictures! Thank you, and Old in the Way for having interest in the grow as well as the comments suggestions. If anything I keep this update for us 3 at this point since no one else will respond, lol.

Thanks again guys.

As I draw closer to my Al B. Fuct perpetual grow system, I am really enjoying how this is turning out. It won't be long now until I start learning & mirroring his cloning process with what I hope to be 2 solid mothers of each strain. I'll sex them all accordingly with a few trials using his proven methods and from there will retain 2 of each and just flower off the rest. In another few weeks the mothers will move to their own 5 gallon containers for continued vegetation at which point I need to have a metal halide over them. The floro's are doing the job thus far and I'll probably use them initially for clones but no longer for the vegetation on mothers.

A few others on here are also growing Papaya and I'll tell you all what, those plants do not look like these.. mostly curious who "didn't" get actual papaya seeds.. The left 4 plants are my papaya seeds and the right are the haze 19 x skunk #1. Huge difference in how they grow that's for sure, the haze19/skunk has shot way past the papaya which seems to stick down low like ground cover. Granted, they keep growing, just not in vertical height like the haze/skunk does.

Onto the update..

During this third week the advanced nutrient levels were increased up to approximately 1151 PPM and they have seemingly been enjoying it.

Current Conditions

Ambient Air Temperature: 79 degrees
Water Temperature: 67 degrees
PH: 5.83
PPM: 1175

Thank you all again, even though only 2 people actually respond, your opinions that you give are valuable to me. Hope you all have a good weekend.. Onto the pictures.

caddy said:

As I draw closer to my Al B. Fuct perpetual grow system, I am really enjoying how this is turning out. It won't be long now until I start learning & mirroring his cloning process with what I hope to be 2 solid mothers of each strain. I'll sex them all accordingly with a few trials using his proven methods and from there will retain 2 of each and just flower off the rest. In another few weeks the mothers will move to their own 5 gallon containers for continued vegetation at which point I need to have a metal halide over them. The floro's are doing the job thus far and I'll probably use them initially for clones but no longer for the vegetation on mothers.

A few others on here are also growing Papaya and I'll tell you all what, those plants do not look like these.. mostly curious who "didn't" get actual papaya seeds.. The left 4 plants are my papaya seeds and the right are the haze 19 x skunk #1. Huge difference in how they grow that's for sure, the haze19/skunk has shot way past the papaya which seems to stick down low like ground cover. Granted, they keep growing, just not in vertical height like the haze/skunk does.

Onto the update..

During this third week the advanced nutrient levels were increased up to approximately 1151 PPM and they have seemingly been enjoying it.

Current Conditions

Ambient Air Temperature: 79 degrees
Water Temperature: 67 degrees
PH: 5.83
PPM: 1175

Thank you all again, even though only 2 people actually respond, your opinions that you give are valuable to me. Hope you all have a good weekend.. Onto the pictures.

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VERY NICE SIR...Thats all i have to say on this! THey are coming along nicely,look very healthy and growth is uniform... Never really cared for or understood the reps thing but I do have to say many props for ur achievemants!Keep up the good work..

Good work +subscribe

Nice Caddy,

Thoughht I would check back in since it had been a week and you posted in my journal.......Things really are looking good man.....keep it up

onthedl0008 said:

VERY NICE SIR...Thats all i have to say on this! THey are coming along nicely,look very healthy and growth is uniform... Never really cared for or understood the reps thing but I do have to say many props for ur achievemants!Keep up the good work..

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Thanks! Your comments are always appreciated

MuntantLizzard said:

Good work +subscribe

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Much obliged!

Old in the Way said:

Nice Caddy,

Thoughht I would check back in since it had been a week and you posted in my journal.......Things really are looking good man.....keep it up

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Hey its great you have time.. with the op you have you're a busy guy, appreciate you stopping by in your spare time!

A quick update in regards to lighting.. I have been anguishing over what metal halide to buy (250w or 400w) and found a Sun System II 400w MH on Ebay by RVFGarden for just $184 shipped. Something told me to just hold off.. I don't know what it was, instinct, gut, whatever.. but if there is one thing i've learned its to trust the gut. I'm NOT saying RVF Garden is a questionable source or what they sell isn't good, but regardless my stomach said not to buy from them for whatever the reason might be, so I stuck with that.

I went on craigslist today and there they were (after watching craiglist for weeks) the deal of a life time came.

After wheeling and dealing with them this is what I ended up getting for $200 said and done.. They needed the cash so bad they drove an hour to a location I suggested to meet.. all equipment tested before cash purchase, and they're good to go!

1 x 400w Metal Halide with Bulb - Sun System with ballast & reflector hood.
1 x 400w High Pressure Sodium with Bulb - Sun System with ballast & reflector hood.

I have replaced the dual 4 foot 6500K T8's and now have the 400w metal halide pumping lumens down on the plants. Not knowing the extent of use on the existing bulbs I will be getting new ones from the store this weekend.

Not much of an interesting update but I figured this is a journal so any updates to the grow-op should be noted. All future updates will be using this new lighting. As for the 400w HPS.. its just going to sit in storage for a while. I already have a brand new in the box 1000watt HPS Sun System with 6" vented/cooled hood glass sealed system for flowering.

That's the update for today, the usual Saturday night growth updates will be posted as normal, have a good night.

sweet grow man keep it up

Not interesting?? Holy shit thats bad ass interesting!! I wish I could have told ya that you can get a bright ass HID light for security ya know just get the right color! many come with a do it yourself wireing and assambly And most cases you ballest are super cheap! I show you my veg lamp later

7cotton7 said:

sweet grow man keep it up

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Thanks

MuntantLizzard said:

Not interesting?? Holy shit thats bad ass interesting!! I wish I could have told ya that you can get a bright ass HID light for security ya know just get the right color! many come with a do it yourself wireing and assambly And most cases you ballest are super cheap! I show you my veg lamp later

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I truly did think about doing that. But again with my gut, I am technically savvy in a lot ways but something would not let me rig those lights up and leave it running while I'm gone, lol. Probably safer than ever doing it, I just don't trust certain things and that's one of them I should not be doing, haha.

Like a goof I was adjusting the light this morning because the heat is something I didn't have to deal with prior.. I dropped the right side of the hood on the plants and they drooped a little shortly after. Nothing broke and only a couple slightly torn large fan leaves.. I'm hoping to see them back to normal when I get back from our office later on.

Here we are at the end of week 4, one full month. They've made great progress over the past few weeks and with the new 400w metal halide they've shown much improved growth.

A few things to note.. the first bulb I had in this new fixture seemed to give only one plant, with a few fan leaves in question, heat burn. Since the new bulb this has not happened since on that original plant or any others for that matter. I am noticing "some" heat stress so I've moved the light up another 10 inches. What lead me to do this was the same heat stressed plant was showing fan leaves edges curling up slightly. ALL other plants remain perfectly fine.. isolated incident on one plant is my best guess. The next new thing to deal with is HEAT.. jesus I cannot imagine how closet growers stay stealth with these things.. I'm just starting the 10 plants off where I am while I gathered the rest of my equipment.. The entire room heats up and now my reservoir hits about 75 degrees, so that is now a slight concern but will only act on it once the mother/cloning cabinet is running with the ventilation I have in mind for a few days or so. If temps remain up, i'll solve it quick enough.

Next Steps:

Continue growth for one more week and move the entire bin into a mothers cabinet I have recently acquired. The wardrobe cabinet I managed to get is 7 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep. The first 5 1/5 feet of this cabinet will be for 4 mothers (or less if necessary) and the top half above the shelf will be the cloning area.

Once the next week is up I will make the move, then begin cloning in the 2 feet of space above the shelf where the mothers are below(this cabinet is absolutely light proof from above/below the shelf as well as the door shut (another craigslist golden find for $50) and made of a tough particle board with formica inside and out. I have painted the inside a flat white to stay away from mylar in case any lighting issues come up I don't need sheets of it that could potentially burn in this cabinet.. You couldn't buy a plastic one half its size at a big box store for under $90 and this thing is solid as a rock clocking in around 150lbs, so it seals noise very adequately. On the top of this unit will be a carbon scrubber taking both upper and lower portions of the cabinets air space and replacing it constantly while reducing all odors. I have it built, I just need the duct work in place and the fans.

Current Conditions:

New Lighting: 400 watt Metal Halide
Ambient Room Temperature: 79/80 degrees
Water Temperature: 74.5 (not as well ventilated of an area as where these will be moved, will deal with as necessary if warm water is still an issue after the move.)
PPM: 1405 (120 out of the faucet)
PH: 5.9 (once it hits 5.95 or greater it gets reduced

Plant Differences:

I am safely assuming I only received a few real papaya seeds.. From looking at others on here and researching the strain heavily I believe I did get 2 real papaya plants (the upper left two) which stay low to the ground and have a unique fan leaf layout and structure. Others here seem to have more sativa based with perhaps some papaya in them.. so i'm a little disappointed that most seem to be haze 19 or skunk.. but I'm definitely not going to complain (just going to hope those two I think are legit are both females.. only cloning & time will tell).

Here are the usual pictures from various angles, showing the new lighting and one of the stronger haze 19xskunk#1 plants .. All have at least 8 or 9 nodes and I believe are ready to clone from.. However, just in case, I will be waiting one more week for them to strengthen before I begin the cloning process. At that point i'll begin replicating the Al B. Fuct batch of clones in rock wool.

To date the grow is a complete success .. some leaves have issues, some grew out as if they were chewed by bugs (but were not) but I just chaulk it up as experience and will learn from that.. As you can see the plants are vibrant green and reaching for the sky.

Caddy bro.This is awesome man. Just curious if u feel like a pimp when U enter the grow room. I feel like i need a cane before i leave lol. Looking nice bro!

When do the colors come in?? like nirvana seed co x who?

oh yeah hey man it helps to spray afew coats of black paint on your res, And pain the lid white(I didnt do that)

onthedl0008 said:

Caddy bro.This is awesome man. Just curious if u feel like a pimp when U enter the grow room. I feel like i need a cane before i leave lol. Looking nice bro!

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Thanks. I'm not sure that I feel like a pimp but I am very pleased

MuntantLizzard said:

When do the colors come in?? like nirvana seed co x who?

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Not quite sure what you mean?

MuntantLizzard said:

oh yeah hey man it helps to spray afew coats of black paint on your res, And pain the lid white(I didnt do that)

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The reservoir is actually double lined with another 30 gal tub of the same kind to keep light and excess heat away from the water.

Room update-

So the plants have now moved to their new home. This cabinet will ultimately serve two purposes.. depending on size and as I go i'll keep at minimum 2 mothers in this cabinet on the bottom (4 if I can) and I will clone up top.

I'm not quite ready to clone yet so the upper shelf isn't in which is what the 400w metal halide will hang from once the shelf is in. The top half above the shelf will afford me 15 inches in height. This is plenty for a bonsai tray, seedling heat mat and potentially if needed a dome. The very top where the brackets are now will house 4 x 24" T5 6500k floros that will be adjustable to bring down right onto the rooting clones.

The bottom half with shorter 5 gallon buckets for each mother will allow me roughly 5 feet of vertical growth for the mothers while keeping clones in the remaining 15 inches. The cabinet is just about 7 feet but as you may or may not see the bottom and top are very thick wood which adds the additional few inches to make 7'.

The interior was painted a very nice flat white - air pumps are on the floor hidden at the back while all electrical is mounted to the outside back of the cabinet including timers to keep them away from any humidity or water splashing that may occur inside. The carbon scrubber will sit on top of this in an unsuspecting cardboard box while a small fan sucks the cabinet cool 24/7 from both upper clone & lower mother sections. I should also note the ballast for the metal halide is located outside of the unit as well to reduce unnecessary additional heat. I disassembled the light and ran just the cord through the upper right as you can see.. made for a clean install and easy to lift/lower the light.

Got this sucker for $50 on craiglist, solid as a rock and clocks in at around 150lbs and holds smell & light in like a champ.. now to exhaust and carbon scrub it properly