infinitalus
Active Member
With this being my first post on this forum, Im going to try and be as clear and concise as possible.
I have a first grow under my belt, and Ive learned a lot from it. Ive done countless hours of research using both books and the internet, and most of my google hits led me to this site. Ive trolled here for several months and decided that its time to get involved on some level.
My first grow produced extremely varied results for different reasons, but my biggest problem was due to pH. I had an analog pH meter which always measured between 6.5 and 7.0 regardless of the soil it was in, even when the plant was unhealthy and got considerably worse to the point of near death. Saving you all a long story about terrible customer service from the vendor I used to purchase a digital pH meter (by Sunleaves, which is an amazing product for around $30 by the way) and found that some of my plants had a pH SO LOW that the meter couldnt even read it (and the pH this meter can measure goes down to 3.5) after a very heavy flush, the plants began to show signs of improvement and development. Its no joke that these plants are VERY hardy and can withstand hardcore abuse. Four of these plants from my first grow are still in the flower room waiting for the right consistency of amber/milky trichomes. They should all be ready within another week or two.
Onto my second grow.
I have four strains that will be going into the flower room, and after this wave, there will only be three. The four that are going in are Himilayan Gold (Which will be the one that will not be continued since it likes to grow like a beanpole even in flowering and the bud itself is not that great IMO) Blueberry Yum Yum, Big Bud, and an AK variant that I call AK 7.4.U. I received all of them except the AK by clones. The AK variant I started from seed, and successfully cloned two additional plants. One of which will be a mother, the other is going into the flower room. I was blessed with the seed as I got a half ounce from a trusted source, and found a single seed. Lucky me it germinated, then was female xD I really wish I could take pictures since she is still in the flower room (planted in soil 9/11/11) and is not too far away from being harvested. Right now, theyre all in 6x6 pots and are between 12 and 20 inches tall. Once the majority hits two feet tall, Im going to transplant them into 12x12 pots and let them finish growing that last foot before putting them into flower so they dont get the shock of being transplanted and the additional stress from lighting change. I have been following pr0fesseurs PAR lighting log and decided that its the way I want to go.
For dirt Im using sunshine mix #4 with perlite. I purchased a gallon of Foxfarms Bushmaster Sledgehammer flush (10% saponin extracted from Yucca) and will see if the results help bring my pH back up to ~6.5 with less salt build up as opposed to using just water. Results to follow at a later time.
Im using chem based nutrients using even less than 1/4 of the manufacturers reccomendation based on the stage of the plant. I plan on getting Dynagro Pro-tekt soon since none of the nutes I have offer any silicon and have seen amazing results around here with that stuff.
Mother room: 36"w x 24"L x 40" H currently has a 30" T5 with 2 lamps at 10000k and a 420nm actinic bulb. I realize that this is not nearly enough light, and have my eyes set on a 36" T5 with 4 lamps (got the physical specifications to make sure that it will fit inside the room) once I can afford it, I will have it. Costs 100 shipped from ebay. Once I have these lights, Ill use the original for side lighting. there is an air king 12" wall fan installed which provides adequate circulation.
Veg Room: 48"W x 24" L x 38" H currently has a 48" T8 with a 10000k bulb and a 'pink' bulb which is going to be replaced by a 6 lamp T5 fixture which is on the way and will be delivered in 2 days from now. This room is perfect to get my plants to the optimum height before placing in the mother room. Currently, there is no fan installed but the room is well vented.
Cloning Area: 36"W x24"L x 20"H currently has two 24" T5 single strips and its enough light to cover two humidity domes. I figure that not all clones are going to make it, and there is just enough room for the two domes. I use Olivias Cloning Gel which has produced good results.
Flower Room: 72"W x 48" L x 96"H currently has a single 400w HPS with two dual lamp T8 HO both with a 10000k bulb and a 'pink' bulb for side lighting. Im going to keep the T8s for side lighting, but the HPS is coming out. It produces FAR too much heat even in the winter. There is a 14" oscillating fan going when the lights are on. On hand, I have a gro-site Kushmaster 8 bulb fixture and Im waiting to purchase bulbs since the bulbs are going to cost about $200. Im going to purchase 3x Korallen Zucht Fiji Purple, 3x UV Red Sun, 1x Wave Point Coral Wave, and 1x UV 454nm. In the flower room I have two natural myco bags producing CO2. Constant temperature is about 85 degrees with the lamps on with humidity between 50-55%. I firmly believe the new fixture will solve the high heat issue and water transpiration issues.
More info to follow when available. Too tired to keep typing at the moment
I have a first grow under my belt, and Ive learned a lot from it. Ive done countless hours of research using both books and the internet, and most of my google hits led me to this site. Ive trolled here for several months and decided that its time to get involved on some level.
My first grow produced extremely varied results for different reasons, but my biggest problem was due to pH. I had an analog pH meter which always measured between 6.5 and 7.0 regardless of the soil it was in, even when the plant was unhealthy and got considerably worse to the point of near death. Saving you all a long story about terrible customer service from the vendor I used to purchase a digital pH meter (by Sunleaves, which is an amazing product for around $30 by the way) and found that some of my plants had a pH SO LOW that the meter couldnt even read it (and the pH this meter can measure goes down to 3.5) after a very heavy flush, the plants began to show signs of improvement and development. Its no joke that these plants are VERY hardy and can withstand hardcore abuse. Four of these plants from my first grow are still in the flower room waiting for the right consistency of amber/milky trichomes. They should all be ready within another week or two.
Onto my second grow.
I have four strains that will be going into the flower room, and after this wave, there will only be three. The four that are going in are Himilayan Gold (Which will be the one that will not be continued since it likes to grow like a beanpole even in flowering and the bud itself is not that great IMO) Blueberry Yum Yum, Big Bud, and an AK variant that I call AK 7.4.U. I received all of them except the AK by clones. The AK variant I started from seed, and successfully cloned two additional plants. One of which will be a mother, the other is going into the flower room. I was blessed with the seed as I got a half ounce from a trusted source, and found a single seed. Lucky me it germinated, then was female xD I really wish I could take pictures since she is still in the flower room (planted in soil 9/11/11) and is not too far away from being harvested. Right now, theyre all in 6x6 pots and are between 12 and 20 inches tall. Once the majority hits two feet tall, Im going to transplant them into 12x12 pots and let them finish growing that last foot before putting them into flower so they dont get the shock of being transplanted and the additional stress from lighting change. I have been following pr0fesseurs PAR lighting log and decided that its the way I want to go.
For dirt Im using sunshine mix #4 with perlite. I purchased a gallon of Foxfarms Bushmaster Sledgehammer flush (10% saponin extracted from Yucca) and will see if the results help bring my pH back up to ~6.5 with less salt build up as opposed to using just water. Results to follow at a later time.
Im using chem based nutrients using even less than 1/4 of the manufacturers reccomendation based on the stage of the plant. I plan on getting Dynagro Pro-tekt soon since none of the nutes I have offer any silicon and have seen amazing results around here with that stuff.
Mother room: 36"w x 24"L x 40" H currently has a 30" T5 with 2 lamps at 10000k and a 420nm actinic bulb. I realize that this is not nearly enough light, and have my eyes set on a 36" T5 with 4 lamps (got the physical specifications to make sure that it will fit inside the room) once I can afford it, I will have it. Costs 100 shipped from ebay. Once I have these lights, Ill use the original for side lighting. there is an air king 12" wall fan installed which provides adequate circulation.
Veg Room: 48"W x 24" L x 38" H currently has a 48" T8 with a 10000k bulb and a 'pink' bulb which is going to be replaced by a 6 lamp T5 fixture which is on the way and will be delivered in 2 days from now. This room is perfect to get my plants to the optimum height before placing in the mother room. Currently, there is no fan installed but the room is well vented.
Cloning Area: 36"W x24"L x 20"H currently has two 24" T5 single strips and its enough light to cover two humidity domes. I figure that not all clones are going to make it, and there is just enough room for the two domes. I use Olivias Cloning Gel which has produced good results.
Flower Room: 72"W x 48" L x 96"H currently has a single 400w HPS with two dual lamp T8 HO both with a 10000k bulb and a 'pink' bulb for side lighting. Im going to keep the T8s for side lighting, but the HPS is coming out. It produces FAR too much heat even in the winter. There is a 14" oscillating fan going when the lights are on. On hand, I have a gro-site Kushmaster 8 bulb fixture and Im waiting to purchase bulbs since the bulbs are going to cost about $200. Im going to purchase 3x Korallen Zucht Fiji Purple, 3x UV Red Sun, 1x Wave Point Coral Wave, and 1x UV 454nm. In the flower room I have two natural myco bags producing CO2. Constant temperature is about 85 degrees with the lamps on with humidity between 50-55%. I firmly believe the new fixture will solve the high heat issue and water transpiration issues.
More info to follow when available. Too tired to keep typing at the moment
