BCNL Producer meets SCROG meets Grape Krush by DJ Short

gwapman

Active Member
Good job bro, cant wait to see the yield, ive never grown before and im thinking about getting the bcnl bloombox, would you be able to tell me how quiet it is, odor control, and how much it costs to run every month (electric bill) thanks.
 

Bumbaclat

Well-Known Member
Good job bro, cant wait to see the yield, ive never grown before and im thinking about getting the bcnl bloombox, would you be able to tell me how quiet it is, odor control, and how much it costs to run every month (electric bill) thanks.
Thanks! I can't wait to find out my yield.

It seems quiet to me but I've got it in the boiler room beside a variety of other items that are humming and beeping. I don't hear any sound but I'm also not looking for it either as it isn't as issue in my location.

The odour control is excellent. There was the faintest odour when the plants were in week 7+ of flower. The dryer really kills off the smell after harvest.

I run my box overnight when electricity is discounted in my province. Also, we have fairly cheap electricity here. I think it costs $20-$25 per month to run it
 

doubletake

Well-Known Member
Nice congrats on the successful grow I'm excited to see your yield as well I almost got one of these just couldn't get all that money together cool idea on the net and adding the cfl do you know what strain you are going to be running in it next time?
 

Bumbaclat

Well-Known Member
Things I Learned From This Grow:

1. Kill The Runt
I had one plant that was a serious underperfomer. It barely reached the screen in time before I flipped to 12/12 because the other plants were filling it out so nicely. The following two plants were both cloned on the same day.





It contributed 10% of my canopy even though it represented 25% of my plants. The buds it grew were smaller and the canopy was thinner in it's section. It also had 3 tops do this while the rest of the canopy was lush and green.



If I could re-live this grow I would have yanked this plant.

2. Less Nutes
I ran my plants at 80% of the recommened dosage during veg and for the first 5 weeks of flower. I then ran them at 70% until I flushed. This was way too much. You can see the nute burn in photos like this;

Two things to note. I wasn't that vigilant about adding water during the week to maintain PPM. The other thing is that Grape Krush is known to be a light feeder and nute burn sensitive.

3. Trim Fan Leaves During Flower
Once I started hacking through the canopy I realized that the density of the leaves was blocking some viable bud sites.Some thinning would have been a good idea.

4. Lower the CO2 PSI
I ripped through a tank in 3 weeks when I had it set to 5 psi and it was this size.


This time I'm going to run it at 3.50-4.00 psi. I'm was debatng running it during veg but I'm not sure that the cost makes sense. That tank is $30 to refill at my local hydroponic store. The horticultural ninja that gave me the strain said to run CO2 throughout but he uses a propane CO2 generator (which is way cheaper to produce CO2). I'm not sure yet. I might just do it for the sake of science.

5. Phosphoric Acid NOT Sulfuric Acid
I bet most people already knew this but I didn't. I walked into the fish store and bought ph down. It made my ph levels really swingy and unstable and my young leaves ended up twisted like this:

The fish store ph down was also expensive and I needed a lot of it to move the dial. I bought phosphoric acid at the hydro store and everything has been copasetic. It is also really cheap and you use very little of it.

6. H2O2
I'm going to use H2O2 in my next round. Throughout the grow I had a few minor outbreaks of algae on the exterior surface of the res like this;

6 days before harvest I had a moderate outbreak of algae in the res itself. I never had to deal with it as they were getting chopped but it would have been a big pain if it had been week 3 of flower.


7. Mix Nutes 24 Hours In Advance
The first 3-4 times I changed my res I would add a bunch of nutes to my mixing bin and then start ph adjusting immediately. I was all over the map and had to dump numerous fresh batches of nutrients because the ph would be so far out of balance. Now I add them to the water the night before and then ph adjust the following afternoon. very easy and simple.

8. RO Water Needs Cal-Mag
This is obvious once you experience it or google search it. I wish I had google searched it rather than experience it.

9. Don't Top This Strain Under the Screen
I don't want to speak for all SCROG's but this strain does not need topping to fill the screen. All I did was slow growth for a few days. On my next run of Grape Krush I will be doing no training before they hit the screen. I will supercrop above the screen to maintain an even canopy in the first few weeks of flower.



That's it! I had some limiting factors to this grow but I've learned (and laughed and loved, if you believe the movies) and will bring this to my next grow. Things to come in this journal are a link to my next grow, the final weigh-in and a detailed review of BC Northern Lights products and then it's a wrap.
 

Attachments

Bumbaclat

Well-Known Member
I haven't trimmed marijuana since most of a decade ago. You know how you forget how unpleasant some things are until you do them again? Not the case with trimming. I knew it was going to suck long before I picked up my scissors.

When I received the Dryer from BCNL, the shelves had been installed upside down. The design allows for a charcoal can filter to be installed at the bottom of the box with room for three screens above. Since mine is upside down I lost one of the screens to make room for the filter.



Even if i had all three screens in place I would have had the screens pretty full. With only two operational I had to jam the bud in 4 deep and put some of it on the floor of the Dryer. Not ideal. The guys at BCNL said they would give me 25% off my next purchase if I fixed it myself but I'm not loving this option. I'm going to call them today to see how hard it is.

The above is the long version of why my bud dried slightly unevenly. Approximately half of it was ready for clipping and mason jars last night. The other half should be ready by tonight.
 

Bumbaclat

Well-Known Member
They did 4-5 days in the Dryer. I finished the trimming last night.



The three big ones are 1.9L (half-gallons for the Yanks).
The eight small ones are 1L (quarts). I actually have a ninth one but it was only half full and threw off the symmetry of the photo.

So I've got 15L of pot. Is that how the kids measure it these days? Probably not. It still has some curing and shrinking to do so final weight is still pending
 

doubletake

Well-Known Member
Nice ha those big jars usually hold 5 to 6 ounces dense for me and usually at least a qp topped off nice harvest
 

nativesun

Member
i am knew to this and would like to buy a bloombox

what is the total weight in lbs and oz and by the way this is by far the best grow that i have seen in a growbox.your the man .its truley an awsome technic for such a small area.

how long did you veg them for to get them to fill out she screen i think you said 4-5 weeks please clarify man you are the growbox guru in my book .iwould like to by the bloom box i know it wont yeild as much but i would like to try your method.let me know what you think . please please please show me the way .

thanks,
nativesun
 

Bumbaclat

Well-Known Member
nativesun - thanks for the compliment!

I vegged them for just under 5 weeks but in retrospect I could have shaved a few days off. There were areas of the canopy that had too many bud sites and criss crossing branches. That is unncessary growth as you're only going to get so many buds with light exposure and the under developed small buds that squeeze inbetween don't add much.

I don't know the final weight yet. I'm still burping the jars and they are slowly drying. I'm guessing I'll know the answer before Christmas. I'll admit that I am quite curious to know.

You can definitely build a PVC screen for the Bloom Box but can I ask why you wouldn't just get the Producer? I believe they are the same size.
 

Bumbaclat

Well-Known Member
One other comment about the veg time. I flipped them to 12/12 before they filled the screen, planning on using 2 weeks of stretch to finish filling it. The screen was already full after 10 days of flowering so I just let them grow above the screen at that point. I got lucky in that regard as it turns out this strain has a fairly short stretch time. If this strain had a longer stretch I would have had a more crowded screen or buds that were taller above the screen.
 

nativesun

Member
hey thanks for the reply and by the way your stuff or style isawsome i would like to do the same but just do not have experiance but i would like to get help from you .and about the bloom box the guys at bcnl talkedme in to the bloom box instead of the producer . i dont know why maybe because experiance
 

Bumbaclat

Well-Known Member
The good, the bad and the silver lining.

The good:
Final weight is
524 grams
Or
18.7 ounces
Or
1.16 pounds

I'm happy with that result. That's .65/grams per watt. The Scrog really makes good use of a small space. The output was 50 grams per square foot (545 grams/square metre). That's above my expectations for my first run with this box and strain. Now it's time to get this dialed in.

The ugly:
Bud rot. Motherfucker. I mentioned before that I lost the use of a shelf in the dryer because it was factory assembled incorrectly. I put too much fresh weed on the remaining two shelves and got uneven drying. When I jarred it, mold formed in a few jars.
Total loss: 103 grams.

The silver lining:
I was over my 1 pound limit before the bud rot. Now I'm just under. Hooray for compliance.

I'll add some photos in the next few days and post a smoke report. I tried it last night for the first time. It was delightful.
 

sky rocket

Well-Known Member
Congrats on your final weight. Sucks for the bud rot. I'm sure your current grow will easily hit the pound mark. In your new journal do you plan to veg for 5 weeks again?
 

Bumbaclat

Well-Known Member
I might shave it down to 4-4.5 weeks but it will be pretty close to my last veg time. I'm going to try and space the plants a little better this time. On the last grow I had some areas that were too dense and some that were too thin.
 
Top