CptTripps' first grow journal.

Plants look good but man I could never bring myself to cut off any top colas, just super crop them but as you found out you cant just bend them over otherwise the stem will snap clean off, you need to work out where you want to make the bend and which direction you want the branch to go in and then just rub and squeeze the stem at the same time as you want to break down the fibres, you will be able to feel once it's done and the branch will easily bend, then you want to tie it down as otherwise it will be next to the light again within 24 hours lol

Just Be said:

Hopefully the warm trash cans doesn't eventually create the smell of warm garbage.

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That's kinda the point. Even with dual carbon filters, there's still a faint smell, so mixing it with garbage will just make it smell like garbage. Plus, I kinda have a heated garage now.

Ok, the Bruce Banner plants are officially stuffed in the 3X3. This tent is way too small for them, but I don't have room for a 4X4 or larger anywhere. I have 8 plants in the 4X8, so I can't move them there. Was thinking about putting them in the 4X8 for 12h, and then taking them out to sleep, but that's a huge PITA and may not be practical. Hmmmmm....

They're really starting to throw pistols so it's about to get stinky and sticky in there. This is going to be a nightmare, but I'll just muscle through and see what happens. Not everyone is going to get light. It just is what it is. I'll have a lot of larf, and a dozen or so good colas I think. I may defoliate everything below the top 16" of these plants today. Think that would help concentrate energy on the top of the plant?



It looks like I've got Nitrogen overload on a Diesel plant in the 4X8. Going to just water her for the next week to see if that corrects it. I think it's about to kick into flower any day here. Other than this, she looks healthy. ("Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?")



Everyone else is chugging along. The sproutlings for Skittles, Red Russian, and Purple Lemonade are all about 1" tall, so the domes will come off in the next day or two after they shed their husks on their own.



I've got more seeds on the way, so I should be planting 2 more plants in here about 2 weeks from now when they arrive. I'll then be 100% on schedule with this tent. Just need the girls in the 3X3 to do their thing so I am not overloaded in there.



Here’s the final pic of the harvest from the Diesel Autos. I dried for a week, then jarred for a week, burping every 12h for the last 7d. I’m going to let them sit out like this for an hour or so, and then jar for the next month before consumption starts. I’m at 7.12oz after all is said and done. Adding 62% Boveda packs to the jars. They’ll go in a box and have complete darkness for the next month in their jars. Right now, it doesn’t smell great. I’m hoping that changes. I’m getting a hay smell more than the diesel profile they had in flower. Chopped too early? Probably.

In an effort to control the growth in the 3X3, I did a serious hair-cut situation today. Close to lollipopping I guess. Pulled about 1lb of leaves off of two plants, and a lot of branches that weren't ever going to do anything. Anyway...here's the Before/After shots. I kept two pieces and am attampting to clone off of them. I have a lot of seeds, so if it doesn't work out, no biggie.

MrGreenFingers99 said:

Plants look good but man I could never bring myself to cut off any top colas, just super crop them but as you found out you cant just bend them over otherwise the stem will snap clean off, you need to work out where you want to make the bend and which direction you want the branch to go in and then just rub and squeeze the stem at the same time as you want to break down the fibres, you will be able to feel once it's done and the branch will easily bend, then you want to tie it down as otherwise it will be next to the light again within 24 hours lol

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This was helpful advise. I was able to bring the top branched down another 6" after the haircut yesterday. They're already bending themselves back towards the light. Great tip on breaking down the fibers. I'd read that before, but forgot that part until you mentioned it.

Checked in on the 3X3 this morning, and everything looks much happier now. I guess a serious defoliating is what was needed.

CptTripps said:

This was helpful advise. I was able to bring the top branched down another 6" after the haircut yesterday. They're already bending themselves back towards the light. Great tip on breaking down the fibers. I'd read that before, but forgot that part until you mentioned it.

Checked in on the 3X3 this morning, and everything looks much happier now. I guess a serious defoliating is what was needed.

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Excellent! Yeah they bend straight back towards the light lol, you kind of need to make the bend lower then you think to take into account them bending straight back up, tie them down if you can but you might need to tie onto another branch as your girls are tall

MrGreenFingers99 said:

but you might need to tie onto another branch as your girls are tall

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That's exactly what I had to do. Otherwise, I'd be using 5' of wire!

Ok....so the BB plants were hitting the light again. They're not stretching like they were at first, so I thought about it and came up with a solution to get another 8" of height from the light.

I moved the carbon filter and fan to the bottom of the tent. This allowed me to put the light at the rafters, and gives the girls a little more room.



So now, they have 6-8" of room. Still not ideal, but as good as it's going to get in this tent.



All three are fully flowering now. I bent down a few more branches to give them some more room too. This crop is going to be a huge pain in the ass....as it already is.

I'm not sure if your filter is rated for it but some filters can be placed outside of the tent. Pushing air though your filter would give you back the space that's being used up by the filter and ducting.

Just Be said:

I'm not sure if your filter is rated for it but some filters can be placed outside of the tent. Pushing air though your filter would give you back the space that's being used up by the filter and ducting.

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I have the three plants in there, and have the footprint for 4 pots, so the only thing that's really in the way is the hose for the exhaust, and it's in the back of the tent for the most part. Plus, I'm RIGHT against the wall with the sides of the tent, so I don't know where I'd put it. It's a cheap Vivosun carbon filter that I got with my first cheap setup, so I'm not expecting much from it. I DID take the cover off of it, and my air output is 5X what it was, so I think that needs to go through the wash today. I wonder what I'm loosing from the big one now too. Guess I never really thought about cleaning those. I have a second one for my 6" filter that I'll swap out tomorrow. I may be loosing throughput on that one too.

Love your solution to getting more head room. Good thinking. I imagine it was interesting wrangling those plants out of there to move the filter and fan though.

Ugh.....I couldn't water yesterday for a few reasons, and it looks like it was one day too many. Came in this morning to a BUNCH of saggy leaves. Hoping they bounce back today. Gave them all a lot more water than I normally do to completely soak the pots. I normally do about 6gal of water a day between everyone, but was at 12 today.





The three new girls didn't skip a beat, as they're still seedlings, but the girls that are deep into flower all looked horrible this morning. I'm going to check back in later today. I've never had them go this long before without water.

2h later....and we're back in business. Crisis: Averted!

Very scary lol, but yeah they bounce back quick. I dont know if it would affect yields but from what iv read is cannabis needs the ultimate experience, each issue they get it affects yield in some way

Not much of an update, but everyone is chugging along nicely. I did a big defoliation on every yesterday as everything is in flower right now but for the seedlings. I'm a little off schedule, but that's not a big deal. I'll have PLENTY of bud to harvest in about 5-6 weeks. The auto tent has 5 in flower and 3 seedlings. The Flower tent is STUFFED but they're all doing well. Plants got to 4' tall off of the dirt, stuffed into a 3X3 with a MarsHydro TSW2000. I guess we'll figure out if the light really is all it's cracked up to be after this.



As I went to post this pic, I noticed a small spider web in the upper-left portion of the pic. NOT sure what I can do about this. Maybe a bigger/additional fan in the tent? Is there a pesticide that I can use? Or is it not a spider web at all. I'll get the microscope out later today and see if I can spot any.