Jeff.Spicoli
Member
1-31-10
This is my first grow journal, and I decided to post it near the end of the grow cycle instead of doing it over a several month period. I have a couple hundred pics so far, but for the sake of brevity in this first post I've kept it to under 20 pics. Will certainly post more over time.
I've made several half-attempts at growing with soil over the years with the occasional minor success, but never got serious about it until this past summer (2009) when a friend of mine brought over a very basic 11 plant ebb and flow hydro system. The system itself was a very rudimentary DIY setup, but it included a bunch of Technaflora nutrients, a bag of probably 200+ seeds, a 216 watt 4' T-5 Sunleaves grow light (with both sets of tubes), and a pump. All of this was free because a friend of a friend had just returned from a trip to another state where he ran into a little legal SNAFU, and was now on probation for the next 2 years. He just wanted to get rid of it all ASAP, and my friend was in the right place/time, which put me in the right place/time for a change! I also just happened to get laid off due to this recession, and I found myself unemployed for the first time in almost 20 years. I now had the time, the setup, and the place to do it. Here's what happened next...
Within a few days we had everything setup in my walk-in closet, and the (bag)seeds were germinated - ready to put into the system. Of the 24 seeds we sprouted, 21 survived into adulthood, and of those we had 9 females. I took very few pictures of this first crop, as it was intended to be just a learning experience that would hopefully yield some good smoke along the way. The summer went by, the plants got big, and I harvested 9 very beautiful, and all very different plants. Some were obviously indica, others were definitely sativa, while a few appeared to be a mix. The yield was about 6-7 ounces of dried herb, with about half of it being some very good smoke. I was very pleased, and decided to move forward in a very serious way.
Crop #2
By this time (fall 2009) I had found a job, so we had funds available, and we began investing in our operation. For the second crop I decided to buy some seeds from Attitude (only a $100 budget this time), then upgrade both my growing area, and the equipment. The first thing we did was claim a part of my walk-in closet, and enclose it. This area is 6 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and 8 feet tall. I use a 4'x4' section for the flower chamber, and the remaining 2'x4' section for the cloning/mother chamber. I bought a 600W HPS Cool Tube with a 471CFM fan to cool it (OMG does it ever work good - but a little noisy). We also bought new grow tubs and reservoirs from Lowes, which saved us hundreds of dollars over buying from the grow shop. I'll make a complete list of everything in use later on, maybe in a grow room thread...
Here is the grow room:
In the beginning...
The grow room is a work in progress. This is the first pic taken after getting the main platform in place, about a week before the first seedlings were put into it.
The seeds I ordered were (all feminized):
2 x Bug Buddha Blue Cheese
2 x G13 Gigabud
2 x G13 Pineapple Express
1 x Lemon Skunk (FREE seed)
1 x L.A. Woman (FREE seed)
Germinated 12-1-09
10 days old
24 days old Christmas Eve
28 days old - That Gigabud is growing fast, tall, and strong
The plants will generally be referred to as:
BC1 & BC2
GB (It was GB1 & GB2, but GB1 died just days after germination very suddenly)
PE1 & PE2
LS
LAW
I ordered the Blue Cheese for obvious reasons - no explanation necessary. The Gigabud was chosen as a candidate for the general purpose, high-yield smoke. The Pineapple Express was pure curiousity since I'd seen so little concrete info about it, and the little I read was positive. The Lemon Skunk was a VERY nice bonus, and I was quite excited they threw that one in since I wanted to buy it anyway but it was beyond my budget. The L.A. Woman was not something I cared about, but it was free, and my wife decided to take that one under her wing as her pet project. The total for those seeds/shipping was just a hair over $100.
Day 6 in flower 12/12 cycle newly rooted and potted clones on the left
The 600W HPS light didn't come into the picture until the current crop was about 6 weeks old (from date of germination). I vegged them for a month under the T-5 lights so I could get some clones. This was my first attempt at cloning, and of the 18 we cut, 14 of them lived. I was very happy to say the least. By the time the 1st gen plants were put onto the 12/12 cycle they were already 18" to 24" tall, which is of course more than I'd like for a SOG setup, but I'm not about to toss them at this point!
I began flowering them right at 4 weeks from germination, and after two weeks flowering under the T-5's, the 600W HPS arrived - just in time YAY!! The plants had just begun showing hairs, and both the PE's, and GB were strutting little buds already. We installed the light, and ventilation, then turned it on. I was in no way prepared for how bright it was going to be, and we were all a bit surprised how bright it was in that 4'x4' area - WOW.. We used sunglasses in there for the first few days..
Installing the flexible duct for the cool tube's air flow.
I have to take all pics of this 600W HPS through some darkish sunglasses. I tried 4 different cameras, and none of them can deal with the light level.
Within just a few days under the 600W HPS the buds really began taking off. The Pineapple Express is growing VERY nicely, and has the largest, tightest buds of them all. The Gigabud is hanging in there with it, but the PE smells so very nice, where the Gigabud does not. In fact, the GB has very little smell right now, but I've read that this changes as it matures and cures. The BCs, LS, and LAW all have little buds, but they are only a third of the size of the PEs and GB. The PEs and GB also sem to grow straight up, and need very little elbow room. The BCs are bushing out, and seem to want quite a bit of room to grow. We have begun tying up the branches so they use less space, and the limbs are pushed up into the light canopy.
Some girly pics:
This is 21 days into 12/12 flowering - GB
GB triple top
Also at 21 days PE1
PE1 weed-boobies up close
2-17-10
The girls are doing amazing. They just hit the 6 week mark since I put them on the 12/12. They are all so funky it's ridiculous. PE1 is probably leading the pack in weight, and beauty, but PE2 is not being much of an over-acheiver. The GB is coming along very nicely with bunches of nugs popping up all over the branches. The GB and PEs continue to grow very vertically, and tightly, making them very well suited for this kind of grow. The GB is beginning to look like it's maturing rapidly with 70-80% of the hairs turning red, and it may be ready to chop soon. The PEs are just beginning to see some of the hairs turn orange as well, but maybe only 5-10%. I think it's time to start flushing...
The BCs are doing very well, though they did suffer a bit of either Mg or Fe defficiency about 2-3 weeks ago, and they suddenly had yellow spots everywhere. None of the other plants had any problems, though a couple had very minor yellowing on just a leaf or two. Since this is my first coco grow, I assumed I probably just didn't add enough CalMag for the BCs specifically, so I hit them with a strong shot and everything responded very nicely. The Lemon Skunk is doing very well, and she has an absolutely amazing aroma. Both the BC and LS smell incredible, but I can't describe how much I look forward to the first cured toke of the LS. I've read that she can take 10-13 weeks to mature, so I'm very excited to see how she turns out considering how the buds look now.
Here are a few pics at 6 weeks into flower:
Lemon Skunk about 4-6 weeks to go!
The top of the LS
Here's the Gigabud top at 6 weeks. The pic doesn't do it justice, as there's a good bit more under there you can't see, and I didn't get any other pics of it...
Here is the top of PE1. This thing is VERY nice, and I am looking forward to weighing the mature cola, then applying some heat to her when the time is right. The top buds (3 of them) are each about the circumference of a toilet paper roll (the empty core part).
Different snap of the PE1 top - 6 weeks in flower
That's it for the moment. I have lots more pics, and more to tell, but this is good for now.
Please be kind in your criticism, and generous in your advice... 
I'll post more about the Blue Cheese, and LA Woman later.
This is my first grow journal, and I decided to post it near the end of the grow cycle instead of doing it over a several month period. I have a couple hundred pics so far, but for the sake of brevity in this first post I've kept it to under 20 pics. Will certainly post more over time.
I've made several half-attempts at growing with soil over the years with the occasional minor success, but never got serious about it until this past summer (2009) when a friend of mine brought over a very basic 11 plant ebb and flow hydro system. The system itself was a very rudimentary DIY setup, but it included a bunch of Technaflora nutrients, a bag of probably 200+ seeds, a 216 watt 4' T-5 Sunleaves grow light (with both sets of tubes), and a pump. All of this was free because a friend of a friend had just returned from a trip to another state where he ran into a little legal SNAFU, and was now on probation for the next 2 years. He just wanted to get rid of it all ASAP, and my friend was in the right place/time, which put me in the right place/time for a change! I also just happened to get laid off due to this recession, and I found myself unemployed for the first time in almost 20 years. I now had the time, the setup, and the place to do it. Here's what happened next...
Within a few days we had everything setup in my walk-in closet, and the (bag)seeds were germinated - ready to put into the system. Of the 24 seeds we sprouted, 21 survived into adulthood, and of those we had 9 females. I took very few pictures of this first crop, as it was intended to be just a learning experience that would hopefully yield some good smoke along the way. The summer went by, the plants got big, and I harvested 9 very beautiful, and all very different plants. Some were obviously indica, others were definitely sativa, while a few appeared to be a mix. The yield was about 6-7 ounces of dried herb, with about half of it being some very good smoke. I was very pleased, and decided to move forward in a very serious way.
Crop #2
By this time (fall 2009) I had found a job, so we had funds available, and we began investing in our operation. For the second crop I decided to buy some seeds from Attitude (only a $100 budget this time), then upgrade both my growing area, and the equipment. The first thing we did was claim a part of my walk-in closet, and enclose it. This area is 6 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and 8 feet tall. I use a 4'x4' section for the flower chamber, and the remaining 2'x4' section for the cloning/mother chamber. I bought a 600W HPS Cool Tube with a 471CFM fan to cool it (OMG does it ever work good - but a little noisy). We also bought new grow tubs and reservoirs from Lowes, which saved us hundreds of dollars over buying from the grow shop. I'll make a complete list of everything in use later on, maybe in a grow room thread...
Here is the grow room:
In the beginning...
The grow room is a work in progress. This is the first pic taken after getting the main platform in place, about a week before the first seedlings were put into it.
The seeds I ordered were (all feminized):
2 x Bug Buddha Blue Cheese
2 x G13 Gigabud
2 x G13 Pineapple Express
1 x Lemon Skunk (FREE seed)
1 x L.A. Woman (FREE seed)
Germinated 12-1-09
10 days old
24 days old Christmas Eve
28 days old - That Gigabud is growing fast, tall, and strong
The plants will generally be referred to as:
BC1 & BC2
GB (It was GB1 & GB2, but GB1 died just days after germination very suddenly)
PE1 & PE2
LS
LAW
I ordered the Blue Cheese for obvious reasons - no explanation necessary. The Gigabud was chosen as a candidate for the general purpose, high-yield smoke. The Pineapple Express was pure curiousity since I'd seen so little concrete info about it, and the little I read was positive. The Lemon Skunk was a VERY nice bonus, and I was quite excited they threw that one in since I wanted to buy it anyway but it was beyond my budget. The L.A. Woman was not something I cared about, but it was free, and my wife decided to take that one under her wing as her pet project. The total for those seeds/shipping was just a hair over $100.
Day 6 in flower 12/12 cycle newly rooted and potted clones on the left
The 600W HPS light didn't come into the picture until the current crop was about 6 weeks old (from date of germination). I vegged them for a month under the T-5 lights so I could get some clones. This was my first attempt at cloning, and of the 18 we cut, 14 of them lived. I was very happy to say the least. By the time the 1st gen plants were put onto the 12/12 cycle they were already 18" to 24" tall, which is of course more than I'd like for a SOG setup, but I'm not about to toss them at this point!
I began flowering them right at 4 weeks from germination, and after two weeks flowering under the T-5's, the 600W HPS arrived - just in time YAY!! The plants had just begun showing hairs, and both the PE's, and GB were strutting little buds already. We installed the light, and ventilation, then turned it on. I was in no way prepared for how bright it was going to be, and we were all a bit surprised how bright it was in that 4'x4' area - WOW.. We used sunglasses in there for the first few days..
Installing the flexible duct for the cool tube's air flow.
I have to take all pics of this 600W HPS through some darkish sunglasses. I tried 4 different cameras, and none of them can deal with the light level.
Within just a few days under the 600W HPS the buds really began taking off. The Pineapple Express is growing VERY nicely, and has the largest, tightest buds of them all. The Gigabud is hanging in there with it, but the PE smells so very nice, where the Gigabud does not. In fact, the GB has very little smell right now, but I've read that this changes as it matures and cures. The BCs, LS, and LAW all have little buds, but they are only a third of the size of the PEs and GB. The PEs and GB also sem to grow straight up, and need very little elbow room. The BCs are bushing out, and seem to want quite a bit of room to grow. We have begun tying up the branches so they use less space, and the limbs are pushed up into the light canopy.
Some girly pics:
This is 21 days into 12/12 flowering - GB
GB triple top
Also at 21 days PE1
PE1 weed-boobies up close
2-17-10
The girls are doing amazing. They just hit the 6 week mark since I put them on the 12/12. They are all so funky it's ridiculous. PE1 is probably leading the pack in weight, and beauty, but PE2 is not being much of an over-acheiver. The GB is coming along very nicely with bunches of nugs popping up all over the branches. The GB and PEs continue to grow very vertically, and tightly, making them very well suited for this kind of grow. The GB is beginning to look like it's maturing rapidly with 70-80% of the hairs turning red, and it may be ready to chop soon. The PEs are just beginning to see some of the hairs turn orange as well, but maybe only 5-10%. I think it's time to start flushing...
The BCs are doing very well, though they did suffer a bit of either Mg or Fe defficiency about 2-3 weeks ago, and they suddenly had yellow spots everywhere. None of the other plants had any problems, though a couple had very minor yellowing on just a leaf or two. Since this is my first coco grow, I assumed I probably just didn't add enough CalMag for the BCs specifically, so I hit them with a strong shot and everything responded very nicely. The Lemon Skunk is doing very well, and she has an absolutely amazing aroma. Both the BC and LS smell incredible, but I can't describe how much I look forward to the first cured toke of the LS. I've read that she can take 10-13 weeks to mature, so I'm very excited to see how she turns out considering how the buds look now.
Here are a few pics at 6 weeks into flower:
Lemon Skunk about 4-6 weeks to go!
The top of the LS
Here's the Gigabud top at 6 weeks. The pic doesn't do it justice, as there's a good bit more under there you can't see, and I didn't get any other pics of it...
Here is the top of PE1. This thing is VERY nice, and I am looking forward to weighing the mature cola, then applying some heat to her when the time is right. The top buds (3 of them) are each about the circumference of a toilet paper roll (the empty core part).
Different snap of the PE1 top - 6 weeks in flower
That's it for the moment. I have lots more pics, and more to tell, but this is good for now.
Please be kind in your criticism, and generous in your advice... I'll post more about the Blue Cheese, and LA Woman later.