fem Blue Cheese, Skunk #1 400w HPS time to blaaaze

MrMcpot · #1 05-01-2009, 10:16 AM

Hey all!

I'm finishing up my 2nd grow since 12/08. I covered my first grow in a journal but I grew those plans under floro tubes and the yield was less than an ounce and a half dried. Not so great. My current grow was vegged under tubes and flowered under them for the first 4 weeks. They were only vegged for 7-10 days because they're being grown in 3 liter bottles and because tubes had poor light penetration. I had not anticipated buying a 400w hps at the time.

In the middle of this grow, I finally upgraded to a 400w hps. For under $350 I got ALL of the supplies I need for my next grow which actually begins today!!

Here is a list of supplies:

- Electronic PH/Nutrient meter from Home Depot (Cost 18.95)
- Hygrometer which displays humidity, current temp, and high and low temps (Cost under $3 at Wal Mart)
-400w High Pressure Sodium Light (cost $119 from htgsupply)
-10 feminized Barney's farm Blue Cheese seeds from the Attitude Seedbank, came with 1 fem skunk #1 and 5 thai super skunk seeds (cost GBP 56.48 after 'stealth shipping' which is close to 80 bucks)
-Nutrients: Schultz African Violet Plus 8-14-9 for flowering, Vigoro All Purpose 24-8-16 (Totalling under $10)
- Rooting hormone, Schultz Takeroot (Cost $5.95, may have been a little less)
-10 3gallon growbags (Cost $5.50)
-1.5 cubic feet ofr FoxFarm Ocean Forest Potting Mix (I forget how much this was)
- 4 Socket adapters (8 bucks)
- 4 14w 60w equiv daylight CFLS, 800 lumens each ($8.95)
- 4 extension cords ($1.95 ea)
- 1 powersentry power strip from Wal Mart ($6.95)
- 1 clear plastic bin to keep clones in while they root (about $4)

The plan: Now that my second grow since 12/08 is in the final stages of flowering with only 1-2 weeks left tops, I am already germinating 5 barney's farm blue cheese seeds in the cabinet where my cfl's are rigged to veg clones. Within 48 hours 4 of 5 of the Blue Cheese seeds popped. I placed them in the dirt this morning. I expect them to sprout within 72 hours. The last blue cheese seed will likely germinate within the next 24-48 hours. It looks healthy and viable and has obviously swollen since the germinating process began.

My plan is to veg the 5 blue cheese plants for 3-4 weeks (or until they are 1ft tall) and I will take a total of 6 cuttings just before I put them into flower for clones. My clones will veg in 1gal containers under the cfls (about 3200 lumens in the 1 sqft clones will veg at) and keep the best 3. Every 3 weeks 3 more clones will be moved to the flowering room and I will be taking new cuttings from each clone. The flowering room will contain about 9 plants at varying stages of growth at any given time after my first 5 blue cheese plants are harvested. There will be 3 2-3ft tall plants in the final stages of flowering, 3 1.5-2ft tall plants in the middle of flowering, and 3 1ft tall plants in the beginning of flowering. With this system I believe I can harvest 4-6 ounces of bud every 3 weeks, all using only a 400w hps and 4 cfls. That may or may not be shooting too high but it seems reasonable based on my research.

Comments, criticism, and advice are welcome.

MrMcpot · #2 05-01-2009, 10:23 AM

BTW I'd just like to say that the differences between flowering under an hps and tubes is phenomenal. The buds on these latest plants are getting 3,4, and even 5x larger than they were on previous tube grow. The leaves are covered in trichs and smaller leaves that are right next to the buds (and the buds) are covered in gooey resin. It's absolutely beautiful but unfortunately, still not visible on my images because I am using a camera phone to take pictures so the image quality is low. I think the only limitations I have on yield were set by 1) using tubes during the first 4 weeks of flowering and 2) short veg time and 3) Using 3liter bottles when the largest of these plants is over 2ft tall. It still isn't rootbound, amazingly, but it may well be before it's done flowering and I expect lower yield because of this. I'll likely get less than half of what I will be getting on future grows because of all these factors.

MrMcpot · #3 05-03-2009, 11:02 AM

Well my second grow this year is finishing nicely. Temps remain 79-80 degrees at the bottom of the plants with a %40 humidity. Last watering I didn't add nutes because there is some slight burn present on some of the leaves. Don't want to overdo it. It's barely visible though so it looks like there is no serious damage.

2 of 4 of the blue cheese plants have sprouted. The 5th seed finally finished germinating and was placed in soil today. Two of the blue cheese sprouts that haven't come up yet are ones that I messed with a bit around 24 hours after planting them. Both of them had exposed roots that I wanted to make sure got covered so I may have moved them slightly to bury them a little deeper. Sadly, in my experience this was a dumb choice. I can't remember having many survive being moved like that at this fragile stage.

Last night I came home from grocery shopping and found one of my cfls burned out. Not sure if it shorted (maybe I got water on it from my sprayer I used earlier to water the plants?) or what but the thing was hot as fuck. The bulb still lights but it is extremely dim. I attached an image. I'm going to go to home depot sometime in the next few days to pick up another 4 pack of daylight cfls, 3 additional socket adapters, 3 extension cords, another 1.5 cubic meters of potting soil, and about 6 small 1gal containers. I plan on replacing the cfl that went out and adding 2 more 14w 800 lumen daylight bulbs for the cloning area. I think 4800 lumens total in this small space should be enough to sustain 6 6 inch tall clones during vegetative state or 3 1ft tall clones in the later vegetative state. What do you think?

MrMcpot · #4 05-08-2009, 10:17 AM

4 of 5 of my blue cheese fems have sprouted. I ended up killing 3 seeds during this whole process. The 3 that died germinated, but appeared to 'damp off' and die before sprouting. It appears that the best way to avoid this is to water with around 500ml to 1l of water when planting the germinated seed and avoid watering again until both the soil is dry and the plants have sprouted. The stage in between germination and sprouting is obviously very delicate.

My largest plant that is finishing flowering at the moment is looking pretty shitty. The buds are very nice and frosty looking and if you touch one of the leaves with frost on it your hands get sticky and smell like mangos. Interestingly, the larger plant's buds seem to have darker hues indicating that I may have mixed the seeds up and the larger plant may be the purple strain. The problem is that both plants smell so strong and unique that figuring out which one is which is difficult.

The larger plant looks shitty because all of the fan leaves have yellowed now with necrotic orange spots appearing on many of them. It's obviously a nitrogen deficiency as is common during these final stages of flowering. I'm not adding near as much nutrients now because pistils have already begun turning brown. Right now, somewhere around %30-40 of the larger plant's pistils seem brown under the hps. The plant is obviously sativa dominant whereas the smaller one is definitely more indica. The sativa's buds are a little bit more 'loose' compared to the indica and the indica has always had much darker leaves. Smaller leaves around all of the colas remain dark and healthy looking on both plants, as opposed to the larger fan leaves which are dying.

The biggest problem that I am seeing with this Sativa plant is that it seems to be taking a very long time for pistils to change color. If they continue to change at the rate that they have been, I could end up waiting another 2 weeks before harvest. The plant seems like it should be ready for harvest much sooner than that. I mean, I can see the trichs standing up like hairs with my naked eye almost anywhere they are present. There doesn't seem to be nearly as much 'swelling' of buds anymore with the exception of new bud growth which is STILL appearing. I would estimate the current weight at a half ounce minimum based on my experience. The colas here already seem larger than my largest plant's colas from the floro tube harvest and buds are bigger and doubtlessly more compact because of the environment they have been grown in.

After removing the largest plant from the glow of my hps, it became apparent that the pistils where actually over %50 dark, even on the main cola. In some of the other colas, maybe even half of them, the ratio is closer to %70-80. I think Monday will most likely be harvest time.

Of course, some of you are looking at the images of my plant and wondering 'why hasn't it filled in more?'. Well, part of that is because it has been growing in a 3l bottle which has likely resulted in some stunted growth. Another factor is that it was flowered for the first 3-5 weeks (I know it went into flowering somewhere around 3/20) under floro tubes. The tubes not only limited bud growth, but they causes stretching too. Unfortunately, this plant was not going to live up to it's potential from the very beginning.

MrMcpot · #5 05-08-2009, 11:45 AM

Here is another image.

I forgot to mention that in the grow cabinet where my blue cheese is vegging, I added 2 27w 1600 lumen cfls to the 3 remaining 14w 800 lumen cfls. This small space is getting around 5800 lumens, which should be more than adequate for vegetative growth.

MrMcpot · #6 06-02-2009, 11:03 AM

Sorry I haven't been updating more regularly, I've been pretty busy with a lot of side projects.

Since my last post, both of the old plants have been harvested yielding close to an ounce of high quality bud. The best looking bud has trichs all over the dried remnants of leaves and bud and looks like some of the best stuff I have ever seen. Amazingly, the stinky and less potent-looking indica strain is actually far more potent.

Anyway, my 5 blue cheese plants have all become within 10 and 14 inches tall. This morning I took clones for the first time.

I took a cutting from 4 plants and I took 2 cuttings from the best looking plant which had thicker leaves and more branches than the others. I began yesterday by filling small containers with perlite. This morning I soaked them in distilled water by putting the tray in my bathtub and pouring liberal quantities over the top. A little bit of water was allowed to remain at the bottom of the tray that holds the containers. I dipped each cutting in a glass of distilled water containing 1/10th strength bloom formula, and then I dipped the cuttings in Schultz Clonex rotting hormone powder, made holes in the perlite with a pen and carefully inserted coated cuttings into each pot being careful not to scrape off the powder on the sides of the holes. Then I packed the medium around the stems and sprayed the cuttings with a 1/10th strength bloom and distlilled water solution. For bloom nutruents I am still using Schultz African Violet plus 8-14-9.
I placed a clear lid over the tray, which was actually the lid for the clear bin I mentioned earlier. The lid was just the bin component in which I had poked a few small holes to allow for some oxygen to enter while retaining most moisture. Currently theese clones are between 2 and 5 inches in height, plucled from the second bottom-most parts of the plant. They occupt under a square foot, which is illuminated with 3,200 lumens of compact florescent light. The bulbs are approx 4 inches away from the shorttest clone and within 2 inches of the tallest ones. I'd love some feedback on this setup as this s my first attempt at cloning. Of the 6 clones I only need 3 to survive as extra ones will be killed anyway since I'm only keeping the 3 healthiest.

In the flowering room, my blue cheese plants are moving to their 12/12 cycle starting today. Additionally, there is a much smaller feminized skunk #1 growing among the plants which is only about 4-5 inches tall. I am flowering it young because this is a sort of extra plant for me to pick off of if I run out of my stash before the blue cheese is ready.

In the past few days I have noted an increased aphid presence in the roomj that contains my largest plants, which is cause for concern. I sprayed the floors, plants, soil, and plant containers liberally two nights in a row with Gardensafe insecticide. On the container it is noted that this stuff can be used on Tomatoes, even on the day of harvest if need be. No adverse effects on the plants except a little wilting and of course a thin coating of insecticide that has killed most of the aphids, though some are still appearing periodically. Sprayed floors in other parts of the apartment with bleach in order to deter insects (they hate bleach, which results in many an unpleasant bleach soaked insect death)

Unfortiunately it looks like while I may be able to control the aphid population in my grow rooms, getting rid of them entirely may not be possible. That bothers me.

Below I have included images of the plants, my clones, and cloning apparatus.
Two of the tallest plants in my flowering room under the 400w hps are looking a little stretched, which I'm not incredibly thrilled with. It may just be genetic as they're getting plenty of light but this sort of stretching seems unusual for a %75 indica strain.

bigtomatofarmer · #7 06-02-2009, 11:39 AM

Congratulations on the harvest. What was the strain you harvested?
I know you have Blue Cheeze and feminized Skunk #1 growing now, but I didnt see where you mentioned the older plants name.
Sorry to hear about the aphid infestation. I hope you can keep em under control. Those bastards can get really annoying.
Good luck man, Ill be following you

MrMcpot · #8 06-02-2009, 12:43 PM

The other seeds were bagseed. One was good mid but the other was a purple strain. I still have around a quarter ounce of it left. Maybe 8-10 grams. Good stuff but I'm hoping this stuff will be even better. Looks like there will definitely be more quantity at least.

I take it you know about cloning? Did I do anything wrong based on what I have said in regards to cloning? I'm a little bit worried about that because this is my first time. I need at least a %50 survival rate.

bigtomatofarmer · #9 06-02-2009, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMcpot

I take it you know about cloning? Did I do anything wrong based on what I have said in regards to cloning? I'm a little bit worried about that because this is my first time. I need at least a %50 survival rate.

Ive seen many different ways to clone. I like to use Coco Coir. Rockwool may be the most popular on this forum, and Im sure perlite will be fine too. There is never only one way to do things.
They look like good cuttings to me, just remember to be patient. It can take 10 days, or even longer to get rooted.
If it were me, I would back off the nutrients for now, I use plain distilled water with a 6.3ph.
Keep them in the dome and misted periodically.
Everythings looking great, good luck!!

MrMcpot · #10 06-02-2009, 05:06 PM

Thanks man! No worries, I'm completely dedicated to not moving them before 14-16 days has passed so as to not prolong the process. One question though, I am supposed to open the dome every day or so to recycle the air right? And after about a week remove it for a few hours at a time a day until removing it completely a few days later right? You know when they're rooted because you see new growth right? I'm wondering how long it'll take these babies to get about a foot tall after rooting. It took their mothers just shy of 30 days and I know transplanting them will slow them by a day or two (I have never experience significant transplant shock from transplanting pot plants, knock on wood) but by and large those branches are about the size of 1.5-2 week oild plants, I think. Sorry for all the questions, cloning is kinda intimidating for me though I hear it's pretty simple and straight forward.

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