2013-14 Six Plant 600W grow

Okay recently started a new indoor grow for over the winter. First a question: I just noticed there was a "grow journal discussion" subsection. Is there a new etiquette where there is to be no discussion in this thread I just started? I don't care who posts to this thread and do not want to start and keep track of another thread. Anyway following are the basics of what I got going on and planned.

2 Cheese - Greenhouse Seed Co
2 Jack Herer - GSC
1 WW X Bubble Gum unknown breeder freebie from SOS
1 Mystery Indica - Came in a GSC Indica Mix H but coloring came off and I lost track of variety

Started fem seeds directly in soil, they popped out around 27 of Sept so I am going to use Oct 1 as birthdate off seedlings to keep it simple. Started in solo cups, mix was 1/2 seed starting mix (basically sphagnum moss) and 1/2 FFOF. They were germ'ed in a sunny window with a few CFLs on them 24/7 as well.

Replanted one cheese after 10 days due to bad stretch. More on that later with picture. Rest were uppotted yesterday 10/21 into 3 quart containers. Soil mix in these containers is 75% FFOF and 25% MG Organic with added dolomite, plus perlite. I started some 30% nutes and cal-mag about week 2 in the solo cups before replanting. Also moved them yesterday into basement grow area 5 X 5 X 8'.

Lighting now set at 50% with 600 W MH bulb. Also got a few 2700K CFLs on them. I bought a couple of these for this grow after seeing them on another RIU users pictures. They are great, no more juggling CFLs. http://www.walmart.com/ip/YOURZONE-PL1059-Your-Zone-5-light-Floor-Lamp/21943689?findingMethod=rl Modified them slightly, as the plants develop I'll use them to add as many as 10 supplemental CFLs to the 600. I've got a variety of CFLs in 26-60 Watt plus some UV-Bs. I'll add mostly 2700Ks to supplement the 600W MH during veg, then when I switch to HPS for flower I'll supplement with mostly 5500-6500Ks with some UV-Bs.

HID is in cool tube with 6" extraction fan providing cooling when needed, and passive air intake. Sucks air from, and vents back into a sizable basement. Also got the rest of the basics like dehumidifier if needed (already had this), oscillating fans, new short grow table to save my back (plants up of the floor this time).

I'll uppot one more time to 5 gallon containers coated inside with Micro-Kote (spinout). Final medium will be 100% FFOF amended with dolomite and additional perlite. Other amendments to the final soil will be Azomite, some castings, a bit of blood and bone meal.

Last grow I fed pretty much every watering at 50-100% and it worked well. For nutes my primary will be Jack's Classic Citrus. Read on here (from Uncle Ben I believe, pardon me if that's incorrect) that this was near ideal for MJ. I'll use it throughout veg, and probably go 1/2 Citrus feed and 1/2 blossom nute during flower. Also use Cal-Mag every watering, plus I'm gonna try some liquid silica and Maxicrop someone gave me.

All for now, I'm gonna reposition my 600 on the ceiling and get a couple pics and be back in a couple hours.

Greenhouse seed co. genetics are whack. Arjan is whack. sorry to tell ya now when youre all stoked abkut your new beans. I got their chemdawg and it was piss poor. Waste of 6 months if you ask me...

Not sure if "whack" is bad or good but I had good results my first indoor with them this Spring. Results can be seen in my old grow in signature.

penguinking said:

Greenhouse seed co. genetics are whack. Arjan is whack. sorry to tell ya now when youre all stoked abkut your new beans. I got their chemdawg and it was piss poor. Waste of 6 months if you ask me...

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To be honest, 95% percent of issues are the grower's fault and not the breeder!

Not much to look at yet but here you go. Couple of things here, first being my cool new 5 headed gooseneck lamp, got two of them and they are going to be nice to work with. I used some clamp-ons last grow and they slipped and burned plants more than once, and I dropped and broke a couple, no more though.

The kind of interesting thing to me is the size of the Cheese in the slightly larger container. Story on it is that I had to transplant it out of a solo cup about 10 days of age. My own fault, they sprouted in a south window and it took me a couple days (cloudy days) to get some CFLs in their face, a couple days to stretch. 5 of them I had enough room to add an inch of potting soil to shore them up. This one was so spindly I figured what the hell, I'll repot it and bury the stem, figuring I would kill it as it had virtually no roots. Anyway transplant went well and I buried maybe 3" of bare stem in the soil. She just took off. In the first pic the plant next to her in the back row is another cheese same germination date and identical conditions all around. Big difference in size and development.

Anyway I'll keep the journal updated with pics at least weekly I hope. Questions, comments, suggestions always welcome. It's already been pointed out that GSC seeds are shit so that does not need to be discussed any further.

Good to see you Aim. I'm here to see the run bro. Should be a fun to watch.

Im subd up for the ride too Aim. The light stand is pretty cool.
Im running a gsc bubbakush clone from a plant I started from seed but gave away.

Both the one from seed and my clone seem to be doing alright so far.

Im subd for this one too.

GHS tends to over hype their products but they certainly are not whack. If you cant take any seed and make it kill than its the growers fault.

Some maybe and some may not. The major thing about any seed company is to not believe the hype of the name.

If theyre recreating a clone only strain, then its their interpretation of what the strain is. Not an exact copy. Even with S1s

Ive grown GHS kings kush and got some amazing bud out of all the phenos. Potent as can be, and tasted amazing.

Here is a mini-update. I'm bored basically... this is nothing earth-moving but is noteworthy, at least to me. Here's a couple pics of the "big" cheese I replanted at ten days due to extreme stretch. She is noticabley larger than her siblings. Anyway.... conventional wisdom, and most of my experience has been that the first "leaves"' (actually not leaves at all but the seed cotyledons) always turn yellow. Lots of posts from new growers freaking out when their cotyledons are used up like they are designed to do and turn yellow.

Anyway these plants were started in mix soil that was 25% FFF, and I started 25% nutes about 3 days of age from seed. Now notice the cotyledon is still plump and green. I'm not sure what my point here is except the conventional "wisdom" of no nutes first X weeks or you'll cook your plants is not an absolute truth. I can see how getting them going on a paper towel or rockwool cube with plain water and putting them in a zero or very low nutrient environment they have to rely on the cotyledons for nutrition and absorb them.

My point, if there is one, is that if you plant into soil with a reasonable amount of available nutrients, I believe the seedling can and will take up soil nutrients the moment the emerging root hits the soil. That's what this one did, it nevver tapped into the cotyledon. And conventional wisdom regarding giving seedlings nutes early on is not the gospel truth. It can be done if done correctly.

I'll do some pics Tuesday which will be 7 days from last pics. Won't be too exciting but they are robust looking and growing, slowly.

Peace - AIM

Well here's a weekly pic update. Kind of BORING still but plants slowly plugging along. After repotting Oct 21 I could see roots in the bottom of their new pots by the 25th so I'm thinking they are busy growing roots and top growth should take off soon. I'm running the 600W MH on them about 12 hours/day, with the CFL's on round the clock. Cut out the MH for part of the day because I'd actually like to get them to stretch a little bit to start training. Not sure if this will work or not.

Anyway I topped the Big Cheese yesterday, the remaining 5 will probably get topped sometime in the next week. I'ts amazing how much larger the one cheese that I replanted the stretch on. Either that was beneficial, or maybe just a fast growing individual. I'm guessing by the time I switch to flower any difference won't be discernable.

Gave them one good watering during the week at 50% nutes of Jacks Citrus, Cal-Mag, Silica.

Got a really cool remote temp & humidity monitor with 3 remotes. Got it all calibrated and moved one to the grow room and discovered that the wireless signal is apparently not able to go through Mylar. Well just fuck. I'm tempted to tear the mylar down and paint the walls instead, that shit's kind of annoying anyway.

All for now, don't be afraid to chime in with suggestions or comments. - AIM

Looks great Aim.
They are the perfect size to start training and the shrubs it will produce is awesome.

AimAim said:

Not much to look at yet but here you go. Couple of things here, first being my cool new 5 headed gooseneck lamp, got two of them and they are going to be nice to work with. I used some clamp-ons last grow and they slipped and burned plants more than once, and I dropped and broke a couple, no more though.

The kind of interesting thing to me is the size of the Cheese in the slightly larger container. Story on it is that I had to transplant it out of a solo cup about 10 days of age. My own fault, they sprouted in a south window and it took me a couple days (cloudy days) to get some CFLs in their face, a couple days to stretch. 5 of them I had enough room to add an inch of potting soil to shore them up. This one was so spindly I figured what the hell, I'll repot it and bury the stem, figuring I would kill it as it had virtually no roots. Anyway transplant went well and I buried maybe 3" of bare stem in the soil. She just took off. In the first pic the plant next to her in the back row is another cheese same germination date and identical conditions all around. Big difference in size and development.

Anyway I'll keep the journal updated with pics at least weekly I hope. Questions, comments, suggestions always welcome. It's already been pointed out that GSC seeds are shit so that does not need to be discussed any further.


View attachment 2867475View attachment 2867476

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LOL, I'm using a bunch of those same pots since my buddy brought them for me............
I have been sprouting in those and just bypassing the solo cup.

Bakatare666 said:

LOL, I'm using a bunch of those same pots since my buddy brought them for me............
I have been sprouting in those and just bypassing the solo cup.

Click to expand...

Good to see you, brother.

Subbed AimAim, this sounds like its going to be a blast.
Good luck and positive vibes for your grow.

Spent about 3 hours today making improvements on grow room. Thought I'd get some pics so you could see what I'm working with, and show off my little room.

Room is 6' deep, 5' wide, 8' ceiling. These 3 walls are covered with 1/2" foam insulation, can't remember what it's called but it's kind of a beige foam covered on both sides with a tough fabric like layer. Right wall and rear wall boards are glued to the concrete foundation (this is in a basement), left foam wall is attached to a built-in shelving unit. Rear wall, or door actually, is not pictured, but it's essentially a Panda Film curtain. This little room is sectioned off from a partial basement, about 16' X 28' in size.

My 6" inline fan sits outside the room just sitting on a shelf actually. It sucks air up off the floor, through the cool tube, and exhausts it directly into the remainder of the basement. The air exchange is passive from just this fan. I have a dehumidifier in the main room which I can use to control humidity, used it only a couple times last grow. There is no exhaust or exchange of outside air. The basement has proven big enough (including exchange that occurs with the upstairs if I leave the door open) that I had a real easy time last grow handling heat and humidity, just by controlling the speed of the inline fan.

Improvements today included removing all the mylar that was there previously, and painting the room bright white. I never liked screwing with the mylar, and my wireless Temp & Humidity sensor would not work through it, so off with the mylar and on with the paint. I also had too beef up my table with a couple more 2X4s under the screen as it was a bit saggy as I initially made it.

Also switched out bulbs, replacing the initial Apollo 600W MH with a new Plantmax 7000K MH below. It was hard to find a 600W MH in the 6500-7000K range (without breaking the bank), and this is what I settled on. Seems OK, and I shelved the Apollo as a backup. http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/88310/PX-MPS6007K.html

Got the gals moved back in and I put them back to work ! Adding table was a huge improvement over working on the floor like last grow. The maroon pillow that looks like is on the floor is actually on a milk crate, so I can sit on my throne and work on them comfortably. Got everything I need at arms reach: Fiskar snips, remote and standard Temp & RH sensors, light meter, jewelers loupe, flashlight, notebook, spool of florists wire for LST, spray bottle, etc. Got the other 5-outlet CFL floor lamp sitting in reserve. When they get beefed up I'll bulb it up and run it from the front of the table, so can add 10 CFLs total to supplement the HID, got several beefy (40-60W) CFLs in both veg and flower spectrums.

Anyway here's some pics of what happened today, questions, comments, suggestions welcomed.

I like that cfl set up. I took almost the exact same lamp and seperated it from he whole pole/base and attatched it in a minicab and had about the same wattage bulbs as you.

Subbed, looks like a great grow is beginning and love the lamp. I could use my spiral extenders on that and have a octopus

Yeah I think I'm gonna love the lamps, major improvement over clamps and the jury rig I put together last year. Now I've got the MH running with some 2300K CFLs to provide more spectrum. Might be a waste of electricity but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy. As they get larger I'll put one on each side of the bench to get light down low and on the sides. I've got several large CFLs in both veg and flower spectrum to play with.

Stay tuned, I'll probably get weekly pics up tomorrow. They are doing well

What happened this week:

After topping Cheese #1 on 10-25 I topped the new growth a second time on 11-2. First pic shows new growth and where it was topped. The remaining 5 I topped on 11-1 and 11-2.

Another full watering, taking about 6 days to between waterings, except Big Cheese which I had to bottom water once in between.


You can get an idea of foliage growth by comparing the pic taken from above with last weeks pic. Yellow tip on one leaf of Big Cheese is where she reached out and touched a CFL. Hope she learned a lesson..

Looks great Aim. Things will get rolling pretty fast from here.