1000W Cougar Kush x3 and Blackberry///Soil to Aero

Hey Guys,
Welcome to my first grow journal. It has been a long time in the making. I started by trying to build a wooden grow cab and then opted for a tent when I saw how easy it all could be (Rule of thumb for beginners is to Keep it Simple).

I was in the process of moving so a few days before the move I bought my seedlings from a local dispensary (I have a prescription for the stuff). I bought 3 of the Cougar Kush and 1 of the Blackberry (Both strains I know nothing about except that the guy recommended I grow these my first time around: Great Yield and Hardy). Both of them were in soil.

What happened next is something I am not too proud of but I did the best I could. I put the plants in small paper bags that were left open, set those bags in a box and placed them outside in the sun for the weekend before I moved (They were out there for 2 days and nights). Luckily it was sunny all weekend and temperatures were in the high 70's and never got below 65.

I then went and bought a bunch of stuff at the Hydroponics store. I won't give you all the details I'll just list the major purchases.

1 4X2X5 Grow Tent
1 HID Hood with exhaust ports
1 6" Centrifugal Fan
1 1000W MH/HPS Ballast
1 1000W MH Bulb
1 1000W HPS Bulb
1 25W T5 Flourescent grow light
Materials to construct 4 Bubble-Buckets
1 4 Port Air Pump
1 Digital Temp/Humidity Meter
1 Analog Temp/Humidity Meter
Ties, Strings and Nets for Training/LST/SCROG
2 Spray Bottles of Assorted Sizes
1 2.2 lbs Bag of MaxiGro by General Hydroponics (10-5-14)
1 8oz container of Mycorrhizae Root Colonization Fungi
1 Quart Sized Spray Bottle of Agrizyme Biodegradable Leaf Wash
1 Quart Sized Spray Bottle of Dr. Pursifulls Organic ".008 Bug Assassin"
1 PH control kit by General Hydroponics (Color Change Method)
1 Cloning Tray with Lid
1 .25 oz of Cloning Gel by ROOTECH
Enough Ducting to build a Moon Suit

Ok so I went a little overboard with the list and told you pretty much everything I got . Next Post I'll go over the Move and the First couple Days! Comments Appreciated especially if you have experience using any leaf washes or organic pesticides. Thanks for Viewing!:wave:

Greetings to all you Marijuana Growing Enthusiasts,

When we left off last time I had just bought all my gear and my seedlings. Now we get into the discussion of the move.

Again not proud of this but I did the best I could. I had to box up my seedlings at about 1pm and put them on top of my car with a bit of bubblewrap to keep the cups secure. I had to do this because I was trying to be stealthy (other people in the car).

As soon as I finished the 8 hour drive I put em under a T5 florescent Tube. They looked really bad but I was hopeful. I explained to them why I had to do what I did and reassured them that they would be alright (I was high :smoking.

The next Day I set up my tent, exhaust and light.

Day 2 My plants were back with a vengeance. I pinched the tops of all 4 and checked soil moisture. I decided to put em under the 1000W lamp.

Within 5 hours the temps in the tent had shot up to 95 degrees with a humidity of 25%. NOT GOOD!!! I put em back under the Fluorescent Tube to finish their 20/4 Cycle for the Day.

Went to the hardware store to get more ducting. I had 2 smaller centrifugal exhaust fans that I found around the house so I installed those in the tent to help cycle the air. All the vents are going out my window. I also bought a swamp cooler on craigslist to help with the low humidity and high heat.

After making the changes I have temperatures that sit around 83 degrees F. My humidity levels are still low (55%) even with the swamp cooler and the 4 air stones I have bubbling a 5 gallon bucket of water. If anyone knows of a cheap way to get the humidity up to the 65-75% sweet spot please drop me a comment.

I now have the plants in the tent with the 1000W MH running 20/4. The 4 hours off happen to be between 1:30am and 5:30am to help keep it very dark in the tent. I might have a problem with light leaks as I can see pinholes of light at night in the tent (I will post pictures later). Wondering if that's just because the light is so much brighter inside.

I have been misting twice a day with ordinary water that I have left sitting out for 24 hours to help compensate for the low humidity. I am not too worried at this point because plants themselves can adjust to non-optimal environments but I am still concerned.

I took an X-Acto knife to the leaves to trim off some dry curling parts. In doing so I tried to leave as much healthy green leaf as possible. The plants seem to be responding well to the new environment. Is it possible to notice improvement 24 hours after changing the environment.

I am also having trouble with the Humidity/Temp Meters I bought. The analog one show 55% humidity and temps around 90 degrees while the digital probe is giving me 83 degrees next to the plants (The humidity probe on the digital meter broke). I think I need to just buy a new meter but money is very very tight over here .

Now for the fun part. PICS! As you look em over please drop me a comment if you see any problems. I am wondering if I can take a cutting yet (Leaning toward no on that one) or start using the nutes I bought (probably a no as well). If you guys think I am wrong say something . My apologies for the Dark Lines and blur. Using my camera phone and the 1000W lights fucks with it.



^First Day Recovering



^Another shot of the T5 Fluorescent set up



^Swamp Cooler I Bought on Craigslist



^ Temps/Humidity of the Swamp Cooler Running in the Cool of the Evening (85 Degrees and 25% humidity outside)



^The Entire Setup



^Inside The Tent



^Light and Exhausts



^Bubbles to mist (Hoping it helps with the Humidity need to check and see if it actually does)



^The digital meter showing 83 Degrees. I hope its not lying. I have it suspended over the tops of the plants. The analog meter sits on the actual cups that the plants are in and always shows a temperature of 85-90... going to keep an eye on it.



^The Plants (Humidity was a little low and temps a little high from the tent being open so long.)



^Cougar Kush



^More Cougar Kush



^Another Cougar Kush



^All three being measured



^The blackberry which looks determined. I might trim off that one leaf with the brown hole.



^Measuring the Height of the Blackberry



^The Blackberry is my widest plant by far right now



^Very top of the Cougar Kush. Nice growth after Topping!



^Top of the Blackberry after topping. I get so excited when I see those tiny little leaves.



^Top of the Cougar Kush. Don't really know whats going on here. Possibly a bud site? I need to get better with identifying plant parts but I figure that will come with time.

Should I give the plants some time to adjust to the light before I use nutes? How much longer should I wait to take cuttings?

I plan on taking cuttings to fill my four bubble buckets. This tent is going to be packed with 8 plants in flower stage.... may have to buy a bigger tent .

Thanks for stopping by guys. Please leave some comments! Any advice is not only welcome... I'm practically begging for it.

Got bored and decided to post from school. I am probably going to water with nutes in a few days after the soil dries out a bit. Don't worry. I will use half of what the instructions say to test it out. I am also considering leaving the lights on 24/7 till the plants enter veg then backing up to either 18/6 or 20/4 depending on how well they take the 24/7 phase. I'll see how I feel tonight.

I did a little bit more research and I decided it would be stupid to take cuttings now. Might as well wait till they are in full veg.

STUPID STUPID STUPID

Really kicking myself on this one. I got home and after some close analysis of my grow tent I started to wonder why my growth seemed a bit slow under 1000W lights. I went through all the potential reasons (bad genetics, too low VPD, shock from the move). I resigned myself to waiting it out and moved on to homework.

While doing Math I happened accross a word problem dealing with PH. BOOOOOM!!

It hit me. I had committed the most obvious blunder an amateur grower can make. I never tested the PH of the water I was using. In all my haste to make sure the plants where in an optimal environment I forgot to secure a good water source which should be the first step in any grow.

I tested the PH of the water and it came up to 7.5-8 way too high. I immediately went into emergency mode and flushed my plants with water that I balanced out to 6. Then I added more water at PH 6 and added a bit of my MaxiGrow formula at 25% strength along with some root fungi. It has only been a few hours but already I am noticing a very slight hint of happiness. I decided I needed to make things right with my seedlings so I went and bought em a small gift as a way of saying I'm sorry for being stupid. A cool mist humidifier that should bump up my humidity to optimal range.

I'll post pics when they start to take off. Hopefully a few days.

Hey Guys!
Just wanted to give a quick update. I have noticeable growth on all the plants for the first time today after flushing. The leaves still look a bit droopy but that could be from overwatering (they'll dry out soon). I am going to the grocery to pick up some distilled water tonight. Once I do that my water source will be locked down.

I have a TDS meter but I am kinda sketch on how to use it. Might try figuring that out tonight.

Ya'll are awefully quiet by the way. Makes me think something is terribly terribly wrong with my grow and no one wants to break the bad news

Comments, advice or just a few random words are greatly appreciated.

So it looks like things are picking up all over the place.

I noticed a little bit of growth at the base of my blackberry plant right at the soil level. I gave one of the panel leaves a high five for the effort and rewarded it with some LST to get some light down to the tiny leaves. It's a temporary lst job but it will do.


I also put a bucket under my tray to get em closer to the light. I will be checking quite frequently to make sure they aren't getting burned but they should be fine. The temp right now where they sit is reading 81.7 at the canopy with the little coolmist humidifier right in the middle.

The other plants don't seem to share blackberry's enthusiasm. I played a little of this for them. Hopefully it will cheer them up.

[video=youtube;N6qU4nxv4lA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6qU4nxv4lA[/video]

That new growth on top of the blackberry is starting to open up :yay:
I included pics of that along with 2 more of my lst job and 1 of the increased height.



I am seeing a little yellowing of the leaves which could be a multitude of things. I am leaning a little toward either a nitrogen deficiency or overwatering since I had to flush em yesterday. I don't want to water anymore until the soil gets dry (still a bit moist). When I do I will be using distilled water. I need to get some homework done now but hopefully I'll have time to figure out my TDS meter tonight.

Jeez its been a while.

So when we last left off I had a bit of growth but nothing too major. It took a while for the plants to get used to their new home and light but playing that song for em seemed to help.

They got up to about 4 inches tall and I topped, fimmed and lst'd them all down. They sure do respond well to torture... kinky sluts!

I took some clones that might be a little too small but they seem to be doing fine so far. I also have 9 seeds going (3 of em diesel the other six belong to someone else and I forgot what they are).

I am definitely going to need another tent before I start flowering. Thinking 10 foot (as long as it will work with my ceiling) to give me ample room to flower the shit out of em. Lst comes naturally to me and I am confident I can keep these guys pretty stout while they veg out. I have a screen I will be employing so SCROG!

I planted my seeds 2 days ago and I already see 2 sprouts coming out of the rockwool! Those things grow fast! I hope they all make it. Would be nice. Would be even nicer if they are all female. One can only hope....

I'm thinking about getting new exhaust fans since the centrifugal one I have right now is quite loud. I am leaning towards Panasonics' Whisper Line series. They have 450 CFM fans that run about 1.2 sones. That would make sleeping a lot easier in such a noisy room.

If you guys were wondering where the Aeroponics are going to come into play thats why I took clones so early and started some seeds. I got 4 bubble buckets waiting to hop into action. Should be about 3 weeks till I use em.

NOW FOR THE PICS!!!!!!!!

For those that like to ask questions I have provided a guide to what you are looking at but feel free to just browse.

From left to right top to bottom.

1. Little Growth at Base of BK (Blackberry Kush)
2. Top of CK (Cougar Kush)
3. Top of CK
4. First Sprout (Unknown Strain)
5. Left: CK and Right: BK
6. The lineup! Hawaiian Ice (NEW) is in the middle in the black pot.
7. Another shot of CK
8. Top of BK
9. Cloning Tank
10. Prepping the Rockwool for the seeds/clones.
11. Top of CK
12. CK
13. Tray ready for some good shit.
14. Good shit.
15. CK
16. CK
17. The crop
18. Tiny sprout #2
19. CK
20. CK
21. Ck
22. Hawaiian Ice (NEW)
23. Day I got the Hawaiian Ice
24. CK
25. BK
26. CK
27. First sprout again.
28. So happy together.



ENJOY!

FEEL FREE TO POST COMMENTS, QUESTIONS OR ANYTHING AT ALL RELEVANT!!!

Sup RIU! ITS DAY 23!!!!!

So 7 out of 9 seeds have sprouted and it has only been 3 days! I'm hopeful all of em will make it to veg. Also keeping my fingers crossed on how many of em are females

I moved my clone dome into my grow tent after I noticed my seedlings growing vertically faster than I would like them too. I put it in a corner and put some random plants (daisy, parsley) on top to give it a bit extra shade. I'll check on them in a few days and remove some of the shade if they look like they could use some more ambient lighting.

In other news I read on a grow site that with 1000W lights you are supposed to have 4-6 feet of clearance. Goes to show you not to believe everything you read online. I have about 18 inches of clearance but very good ventilation so I'm confident they will be fine. I'm expecting some kickass growth now that they are bathing in higher intensity light. I also took the flouro 35W tube I got and set it on top of the pots to get light underneath the small canopies developing. I'll rotate it around day by day to give em extra juice until I get more flouros to mount in the tent.

I untied all the plants to let them stretch a bit before I LST them in their new pots. Only two of my plants so far have a decernable main shoot that is dominate, all the rest have multiples do to fimming, topping and LST. Can't wait to utilize the screen. I really can't wait till I have a uniform canopy with flouros underneath and 1000W on top

Now for some PICS!!!! I held a box over the light so it wouldn't fuck up all of my pics. The one shot of the whole tent has lines because the light is so intense and I didn't feel like asking my roommate to help at 11pm on a school night. I included shots of the individual plants with some canopy shots as well. Check out the shot of the blackberry plant's small growth at the base. That whole top appeared magically in about 3 hours of being closer to the light.

I'll have to upload a few shots of what's happening in the clone dome tomorrow if ya'll are interested

PEACE GUYS! KEEP IT GREEN!

What up guys. It's time for an update!
So since last time I moved the clone dome out of the tent. I also moved the AC unit into the tent for a while but it has since cooled down so I don't think I'll use it much.

My clone dome got too hot last week and some of the plants were scorched....

Funny how much heat a flouro tube can put out when its under a box. Luckily I suffered only a few casualties which I analyzed to see root growth etc. The others are making a slow comeback but they should be fine.

The one clone had a few roots on it so I put it in one of the buckets. I did this instead of going with a seedling because it's a guaranteed female. The seedlings I have didn't come from feminized seeds so I'm gonna have to figure them out down the road. So far 1 bucket has a seedling and the other has a clone.

I moved the plants down to the floor of the tent to make room for the bubble buckets. Now everyone looks happy. I can't wait till they go into flower

Pics attatched. Later Everybody!

So it has definitely been too long since my last update. Sorry guys life gets in the way sometimes.

So moving chronologically:

I bought a new flowering tent/light/fan/carbon scrubber. I replanted the 5 original plants into 5 gallon paint buckets and put the 3 Cougar Kush in the flowering tent. Specs!

100% Reflective MYLAR Hydroponics Grow Tent 3'x3'x78" GYO1005A - $90

Lumatek 1000W 120/240V HPS/MH Dimmable E-Ballast - $321

Panasonic FV-30NLF1 WhisperLine In-Line Ventilation Fan for Single or Multiple Inlets - $189

I ordered a 19" cooltube for the flowering tent reflector but it was out of stock. I opted for the same reflector I had before since it works very well.

The carbon scrubber I got is just a generic one I got at the hydroponics store.

It's day 14 of flowering:hello:

So far so good besides the bug problem (we'll get to that in a bit). Noticing bud sites all over the place and i'm keeping the screen on em to get some good light penetration. The blackberry kush and the hawaiian ice are going to be put in the flowering room next. The problem is that I only have room for one more plant... I really don't know what I'm going to do with that. I mean the pots will fit fine but not really sure if they will like being cramped together. What do you guys think? With a 1000w HPS bulb going, will I be able to fit 5 or maybe even 6 plants in a 3'x3' space and still get good results?

I can't wait till I move into a house and can stop growing in my tiny apartment bedroom. It's a sacrifice but hey can't get something for nothin right?

I noticed that I have what I believe to be spider mites. They are pretty much on every plant though I'm not too worried. Glad it happened now instead of when i'm about to harvest. I have 2 different products I started spraying. The first is agrizyme (not sold anymore) and the second is .008 bug assassin (also not sold anymore). They are both safe for flowering and made from natural substances. Hopefully I can get rid of the little bastards soon.

We also have two new additions to the family. 2 unknowns from seed made it to the bubble buckets and 1 clone that should be bubbling by the end of the week. The unknown from seed turned out to be a male so I promptly ripped him out and froze his remains for hash making later.

I'm also doing a bit of research on CO2 enrichment for the cycle after the first harvest. Specifically I am thinking of adding a CO2 controller and tank set up to the flowering tent and then to the veg tent when I have the funds.

Thats all for now. Post comments, advice, haikus or whatever else you like.

Hey guys and gals!

Its been too long since my last update. School has been killing me. Plants are just about to get harvested.

So when we last left off I had just switched 3 plants to flower. I added one of the bubble buckets so that makes 4 plants in my flowering tent.

The spider mites have gone away mostly. Azamax works great!

I have a new problem with patchy yellowing spots on the leaves. Hydro store guy said it most likely was a calmag deficiency so I got some calmag supplement from Organic Hydroponics. The soil runoff was a bright red color when I tested it. So I flushed and flushed and flushed and flushed. Seriously took forever to get the ph back to normal which is strange considering I have been adding lime.

Oh and don't worry they have been given nothing but water for the past 2 weeks so they should be good and ready

I'll post a longer update in a few days when I harvest. Thanks guys!