DOG Kush LED Grow Journal

Sorry for the wait been a hectic mess with weather and the e-nail project. Got some shitty pictures from my friends camera so theyre super bright.

Cameras are just not meant to take pictures of large amounts of individual spectrum. If you saw the exposure graph anyone would think theyre super blown out but if i stop down/raise shutter speed any more all the lower shit/pots/mounding gets blacked out. My T3i can handle it pretty well but point and shoots with like 5 stops of dynamic range be STRUGGLINNNNN!!! haha

The ones on the left are doin awesome! Stayin nice and bushy about 1: node spacing and only about a double in size stretch. A ton of nodes even though i only topped them once and a little bit of super croppin but barely any. The actual point where i topped was only about 6-8 inches tall so theres a solid foot of nothin but hopefully baseball bat colas. Not expecting them to be as fat as bats but they look like they should form 1 solid bud for a majority of the branch.

The right side however are some lanky ass bitches. Not super far node spacing only around 1 1/2"-2 1/2" but them bitches sure did stretch. A solid 6 inches above the left. One of my top buds actually got burnt by running into the light!!! haha. But the 2 right ones were my skinny leaf sativa dom ones so it was assumed i was gonna get some stretchers.









So far so good! All def/ph problems have been fully reversed at this point. Havent seen a bad leaf since before last pictures were taken.

All the clones have made it, so far.... At least 1 from each. Theres 2 that are strugglin hard and of course theyre one of each of the 2 shorter phenos. But i still have one of each of those that are really gettin it. Raised my light up high for them because they were already strugglin!

The one in the center is the new seed i popped around the time i took clones. Not really boomin cause i have the light up so high as to not fry the clones but i should be able to drop it down next time i go there. Even with the light that high shes surprisingly bushy and more indica dominant.




Hopefully transplanting these clones in 2-3 weeks, give em another 2 weeks after that to establish themselves and take clones, then the flower should be about finished and ill have room to get hopefully all 9 plants. At minimum i think itll be 7 if the 2 strugglin clones end up dyin.

nice^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks! Definitely got some different phenos to say the least.

Hopefully gettin a really good Sage n Sour cut soon as well as a timewreck possibly.

Heard Sage N Sour is supposed to be a really good yielder but still pack hella punch and flavor!

it looks good in the pics

Hell yeah cant wait to add that to the collection. Might be gettin some GTH cuts as well as some timewreck if i so choose haha.

Possibly even a ripped bubba. If i got the ghost train haze then id be growing 2 of the "high times worlds strongest strains" which i know doesnt mean alot since they arent the exact cut that ranked them up there (along with testing at some labs that are calibrated differently) but still 2 of the "strongest" strains genes floatin around the stable would be pretty nice. Imagine some crosses of the DOG and GTH. haha

Pictures up soon!

All the clones lived!!! Im really surprised because a few of them looked terrible. Had literally 1 leaf left on them and had few roots when i transplanted.

But theyre all lookin up and gettin really fat! Some vigor to these clones. Theyve actually started to show some N def because ive been babying them.

So i corrected that.




The clones are not yellow, its just the over exposure with the shitty camera im using haha theyre all very green and happy with just one or 2 lower leaves showing some N def.


Heres the flowering! Right side refused to stop stretching for a while and ran into the light and got burnt. But only one of the buds so its no big deal. Seem like they should be done stretching by now. Left side is nice and comopact about 6 inches shorter at least with tighter nodes. Either way theyre both looking good and the lower growth is surprisingly full so far. I was not expecting that. I assume itll be a little airy but that even happened with my 600w.




Top nug of the front left one





So unless yield is really shitty on the left ones im probably gonna be keeping on of those as my mothers to continue growing. Theyre all ridiculously sugary for this far in. Fan leaves and all. Gonna make some killer hash.

Also, parts ordered for the first e-nail should be in by tomorrow/monday depending on how USPS feels haha. So for anyone who hasnt joined i have a thread goin for the DIY enail in my sig. Cant wait!

Hopefully ill remember my camera next time and get some good macros of the sugary ass everything!

Wow! The Girlz have filled out quite a bit in the last 5 days! Budding GREAT! I am also witnessing some INSANE Frost under the Bud Bosses! WooHoo!

Speaking of saving the clones... I need to get to work! Hehehe

Peace

For real!!! I thought it was just me but when i went to feed em and take picrues like a week ago im not gonna lie i was gettin a little worried, but when i came back this week i was pleasantly surprised.


Also im used to 8 week strains and the DOG are def some 9 weekers the right ones are probably gonna go 10-11.

The HOG fininshed day 55 on the dot, the grape god finished in 56 days, and the kings kush was good at day 54.

So im ready for another month and a week or so til harvest! Gonna have some hash by 4/20 hopefully!!!

Last time i chopped the auto cheese i grew i let it dry just enough for about a day then froze it and made bho the next day and that shit tasted soooooo good.

I usually let my trim just sit with my nugs and slow dry then it eventually gets pretty bone dry then ill use it for something and itll come out alot darker and plainer/more just thc flavor if you will haha. EVen though thc doesnt have a flavor. Just like straight weed hash with a little bit of flavor in it. But i cant wait to get some super fresh frozen trim to run from these DOGs.

So i think ive figured something out.

Ever since i tossed the clones in veg theyve been actin weird and same with the seedling i have startin up.

Ive been feedin em nutes slowly but surely making sure not to burn them. But im STILL getting deficiencies.

So i was really confused because i finally got it under control when i figured out this shit.


Im starting to think that it has something to do with the LEDs and the spectrum that my plants are getting.

Dont quote me on this but i remember reading that each different part of chlorophyll absorbs a different wavelength of light (that i know) and that each different chlorophyll/light absorbing organism uses different nutrients primarily at different amounts.

Now this goes to kind of explain why people say plants use/need different/more nutrients when grown under leds.



So my thinking is that i was so used to running cmh/hps bulbs and used to seeing the usual slight cal/mag defs that i was just going with the flow and feeding at my regular recorded ratios. Now when i switched to LEDs not only was it a new strain, that is very hungry compared to the mostly indica dom strains i grew prior, but also the fact that the certain light receiving organisms on the plants were being worked harder since there was more of the red/blue spectrum VS the large spread out spectrum of cmh/hps that covers alot of yellow/green/orange range.


Any of you LED gurus let me know if you had to switch your feeding ratios when you switched.

I switched it up and dropped certain nutes and raised others to experiment as well as being super on top of the pH.

Hey budbro, been keeping an eye on your grow(s) and looking good!

I certainly don't consider myself an expert but you're on the right track I think. I've done a lot of experimenting and documenting with LED grows in the last year. Some thoughts that may help or at least get you thinking...

The first thing I found was actually the opposite to one of your thoughts though, I had to reduce my watering and feed schedules. My first round, I burnt the shit out of and over-watered my plants. Same with my first seedlings and clones under LED's.

When you think about it logically, you get a lot of light, but little heat. This means less evaporation, particularly if you come from the HPS/HID world, this is a huge difference. So even the same plants under the same or equivalent light/power, will need less water. I believe in turn, less nutes. I drastically reduced both in my second run and did much better. My current run even less and the plants are much better. Now keep in mind I'm in soil which has nutes in itself, it's not what I'd consider super-hot soil but has a significant amount nonetheless.
Of course, the different stages of growth will demand/use more water, that happens regardless of light technology, but overall they use less and it's easy to over-water.

The second thing I believe is relevant here and I've adjusted this current round is the lighting switches, and distance from lights.
In my current round, I went for 6 weeks with strictly the "veg" or lower setting. Again, the plants have responded well/better than when I ran the full cycle with all lights on. Typically what the switch does is back off the reds which are necessary in flowering, but not needed or used in high amounts during veg.
To test this, I have 2 strains running, 2x one strain, 1x another, 3 plants total per run. Second round is about 3 weeks behind.
The first round (one running in my signature) was veg lights only for 1st 6 weeks, then I turned on the reds, on purpose, will be flipping them to 12/12 around week 8 so I want them to acclimate to the reds before I flip. AND I believe from doing some reading on the subject, that the reds will induce/trigger pre-flowering so I can see what I have (sex) earlier.
I'd also read that giving them too much red, too early while it may not be too detrimental, will not help either as they don't use/need it early on.

To further test my theory, I recently turned the reds on in my second round of indic a dominant (2x) strain, earlier than I had for the first round. Turned the reds on at 4 weeks. Within a week, I've seen some signs of what looks to be burn and stress on those 2 plants. Kind of looks like bleaching of the leaves and somewhat like nute burn. Using the same amount of water and nutes so really the only variable, on the same strain. Turned them off today and will wait until they're around week 6 again, they're in a small tent and I don't have the room to back the lights off so turning them down is about my only option.

The distance from lights observations I mentioned. I've backed off distance to about 30" for seedlings/clones, 24" for first two weeks of veg, then 18-22" through the rest of veg. Will go closer in the range of 14-18" through flowering. Again, based on previous grows and burning the crap out of seedlings/clones first couple of times. These distances, for my lights work much better and consistently. The initial thought is (I did this first round) get them closer, they won't burn with LED's, and to some extent that is true. But when you think about how LED's are designed, the bands used for any particular stage (clone/veg/flower) are setup for those stages and mixed (whites, blues, reds, far reds etc.). Getting them too close I believe is detrimental in that you a) loose coverage b) loose the proper mix of bands hitting the plant c) If given too close, too early, will burn/bleach them

Which brings me to the last observation, not really anything new as I've seen and expected this. Strain dependant traits.
While I haven't grown enough strains indoor (and LED) to know this for sure. There is a definite difference in how some strains react to both lighting and particularly nutes.
The indica dominant strain I'm running is so happy with the watering/feed schedule I can't see them reacting any better. They're a deep but not overly dark green, beautiful, healthy leaves, no signs of burn at all.
The saliva dominant strain on the other hand, in the same conditions/cabinet, same feed schedules is good, but not anywhere as healthy and green as the indicas. I've been backing off, flushing, and generally fighting to keep it healthy all along. Even when they were young seedlings, the sativas got burnt tips while the indicas loved it.

So, just some tips/observations/theories, hopefully some of it will help or trigger some of your own theories based on what you've seen/experienced. Cheers.

All coming along nicely now man! They do stretch a bit eh! And hardly branch, bud strait from the stem. Getting interesting

Thanks guys! Been steady chuggin.

Hopefullly have some pictures for ya today!

hell yea pics. how far you in now bud? my dogs are looking killer and only two balls on one plant.

Those pictures were at about 3-4 weeks in and right now i should be almost 5? Im bad with time but i have it all written down. Figured theyd take a solid 9-10 weeks.

I know i should be harvestin around 420 hopin to have some hash by then!

i will harvest my three big plants and have them in jars by 420. i am pulling the last of the alligator kush clones tonight dogs will be after 420

DOGs in veg



Took em out of the light so you can see how hungry they are. Still not sure if its just the strain or the LEDs but either way they are starvin for some nutes and im givin em a decent amount. Been slightly switchin up ratios to see what will work better


DOG seed















Couldnt see which ones are which but you can kinda see the skinnier leaf ones but all in all they look pretty similar in veg.

Nice and fat and bushy. Gonna get topped and transplanted in a week or 2. Then some clones and after a week or 2 the flower should be closin in on completion so theyll just be awaiting some room in there!


Speaking of flower.....





Hit em with the flash




Fatter phenos so far.







Turned the lights off to make sure i wasnt missing any def or balls. Good thing about the light is that it really helps you identify changes in color really fast. The second something turns from green to light green and then to yellow it starts glowing! Thats the one nice thing about hunting for balls is theyre usually yellow bananas so if there were any theyd be glowing yellow.







These were taken at day 40 give or take a couple days. Should have a solid 3 weeks left for these guys possibly 4 for the right tall ones.

Either way im lookin at a pretty good yield. Im thinkin 8-12 would be a fair guess. Gonna have a good amount of trim and lower buds to use for bho since theyre a little taller than i wanted.

These were the mothers and since i was messin stuff up at the beginning i let the veg a little longer than i should but once i throw the 9 in thatre in the veg ill have a nice SOG to really show off what these lights can do.

Hell yea Bro.

some fine dark green leafage and sugary goodness. i likes it

most of mine look like yours i have one a little different.

Ive had nanners I didnt even see till after harvest, drying and in the jar! Was taking some bud pics and be like wtf a nanner?