My first grow log. ALL ADVICE WELCOME

I started germination July 1st, all three sprouted July 4th (2015). I built my room. The details are:

Strain - Double Berry (Mainly Indica) Feminized x3

Grow Room - 6.5' Deep, 4'8" H (this is the max the plant can go after accounting for light and pot), 6' W

Lighting - 600w MH for Veg, 600w HPS for flower (with cheap reflector wing), Styrofoam for reflection. Cycle has been 20/4. Begins at 6 pm and ends at 2 pm.

Air circulation - 1 4" inline exhaust w/ carbon filter (apparently 220 cfm), oscillating 16" fan, evaporative air cooler/ionizer, 1 6" wall fan

Growing medium - Hydro store starter soil (plants are still in it in the pics), Fox Farms Ocean Forest once transplanted. Pots are 6" diamtere, 6" height, but they have a 1" spacer at the bottom.

Nutrients - Rx Green Part A and Part B for veg and bloom (using the correct ones when applicable), CaliMagic, Silica Blast, Rx Green Microbial mutual beneficial root grow

Water - Distilled water from grocery store or from purifying it myself.

CO2 supply - been using what the people in the house naturally exhale, but purchasing some fungal boxes tomorrow and may make some sugar/yeast water myself (stinks like dirty socks, but that is preferable to the pleasant, tho noticeable, MJ odor).

Environment - been very difficult to control. My RH has been just under 60% throughout, but my temps are hanging around 90°F. I purchased the evaporative cooler today. I am removing the digital ballast tomorrow (hopefully the temp goes down to 80°F ish.

I have watered when needed (5 times since sprout). I added the first nutes 6 days ago. Here is what was added:
1.5 ml part A
1.5 ml part B
1 scoop of root magic (All in a gallon)
I use 19 fl oz per plant

I added more 3 days ago:
2.5 ml part A
2.5 ml part B
1.5 scoop root magic
1 ml silica blast
1 ml calimagic
19 fl oz per plant

I will water (no nutes) in about 6 hours. PH has been kept 6.3 and runoff is anywhere from 6.10-6.34

Pics were from 8 hours ago. I removed the ballast from the room, but heat is still an issue (cant get it below 90°F), but RH is steady at 60% since addition of air cooler.

I will post new pics about twice a week. I plan on topping and/or LST.

Hey, looking good. I had the same issues with temperatures during my grow. I now have to leave my grow room door open whilst the light is on, also a 600hps....

Lst and topping.... Loads of info and methods on YouTube. I was too scared to top my first plants of fear of losing the big main collar but not sure if I wish I did now, I just lst then using tape and taping the leafs to the pot and then as they got bigger snapped up a metal coat hanger and bent them into hooks and hooked them down.
Good luck.

They turned like that just from LST? Wow. Gorgeous. I want to top all of them, but one looks weird (doesnt have a continuous main stem/cola, it branches off and forms new nodes?) So i was thinking of topping just two and LST the weird one. But if LST produces girls like that I might as well save physically damaging my plants as a noob and just bend them a little bit.

Follow up question, would super cropping work well with LST?

ALL questions are directed towards anyone with the experience and knowledge to answer. Thanks a bunch

Yeh, all I did was bend them down using tape and coat hangers lol.
And then also took out the bottom thirds worth of leafs and smaller buds which weren't getting any light and stealing nutes from my larger too buds.
Next time I'll be buying a tent and having a lot more room to play with

Great. You helped me make up my mind. Thank you very much Green

Any fans? How about carbon filter? Plants are looking awesome, so you got a green thumb going for ya! I recommend investing in a cooling hood, hooked to a 6 inch fan housing. If money is limited you can still setup a decent air circulation system by running smaller 4 inch duct fans pulling air from around your light and drawing it out of your tent. Also the height of the tent may not be a problem now but with a 600w light it could get out of hand easy so training is a must! Hope they keep getting fatter and taller, good luck!

Captain Fap said:

Any fans? How about carbon filter? Plants are looking awesome, so you got a green thumb going for ya! I recommend investing in a cooling hood, hooked to a 6 inch fan housing. If money is limited you can still setup a decent air circulation system by running smaller 4 inch duct fans pulling air from around your light and drawing it out of your tent. Also the height of the tent may not be a problem now but with a 600w light it could get out of hand easy so training is a must! Hope they keep getting fatter and taller, good luck!

Click to expand...

I have a 6" inline fan (220 CFM), evaporative air cooler, and a wall fan.

Money IS NOT an issue. I have done extensive studying and have spent just over $1,600 so far. If u have an idea, let me know. I am willing to get anything except a damn ac unit.

Thanks!

Try moving up to a higher cfm fan. I'm using a 450 cfm I got off amazon. Also try to reduce as much air duct as possible, the more turns and length, the harder the fan has to work, I noticed my fan worked best placed outside the tent sucking vs pushing from inside. Also move as much un needed electronic outside the room, if your reciprocal or your ballast is inside, it's probably putting off its own heat source (low but a heat source it is).
If fan is located outside of room make sure it doesn't have any leaks outside of the room, this will reduce cfm intake hugely if running a carbon filter. Also if you haven't done so already, make your grow room work night shift. Running lights in the day will run hotter in most cases seeing that most houses are cooler at night. Hope that helps!

Running a 1000w 4x4x8 tent and my tents with a dehumidifier during flowering stay around 80 and sometimes as low as 73 with the door open. Temps measured at top level of canopy

Captain Fap said:

Try moving up to a higher cfm fan. I'm using a 450 cfm I got off amazon. Also try to reduce as much air duct as possible, the more turns and length, the harder the fan has to work, I noticed my fan worked best placed outside the tent sucking vs pushing from inside. Also move as much un needed electronic outside the room, if your reciprocal or your ballast is inside, it's probably putting off its own heat source (low but a heat source it is).
If fan is located outside of room make sure it doesn't have any leaks outside of the room, this will reduce cfm intake hugely if running a carbon filter. Also if you haven't done so already, make your grow room work night shift. Running lights in the day will run hotter in most cases seeing that most houses are cooler at night. Hope that helps!

Click to expand...

What do you mean "make sure it doesn't have any leaks outside of the room"? The fan is outside of the room sucking air through the filter, which is inside the room. I have them connected with straight ducting.

If i used the one I have now for intake and got a bigger one for exhaust, will that be optimal?

Thanks

I re

Captain Fap said:

Any fans? How about carbon filter? Plants are looking awesome, so you got a green thumb going for ya! I recommend investing in a cooling hood, hooked to a 6 inch fan housing. If money is limited you can still setup a decent air circulation system by running smaller 4 inch duct fans pulling air from around your light and drawing it out of your tent. Also the height of the tent may not be a problem now but with a 600w light it could get out of hand easy so training is a must! Hope they keep getting fatter and taller, good luck!

Click to expand...

thank you. I started researching everything January 2014 and finally started July 1st, 2015. As we all know reading can only go so far. I prepared as well as I could and waited until I had enough of a budget to treat the girls exactly how they should be treated.

Thanks again

I meant leaks in the duct work outside of the tent/room. Inside duct work leaks are ok if they are pre light hood, after light hood will still circulate air. If you don't have a light hood design for cooling I would get one, it will reduce the shit out of your temps. No need to redo any or your layout, just install the hood inbetween the filter and fan. That's the only cooling method I use, no Ac, nothing and it keeps that 1000w light cool

When I get off work I'll be more than happy to talk a few pics of my setup for reference.

First off, Welcome to RIU! This is def. the place you want to be! So far, your plants look very healthy. As for the heat, my veg room itself is pushing almost 90* F at times.. I know what your dealing with.. During veg, this is not really that big of an issue other than slight stunting of growth. However, when you start to flower, you will have much issues with heat as high as 90*.. Spider mites and/or mold indefinitely.. I would really recommend getting some kind of exhaust fan to get rid of all the heat thats emmited of your HID, especially since the dimensions are pretty small.

Green101189 said:

Yeh, all I did was bend them down using tape and coat hangers lol.
And then also took out the bottom thirds worth of leafs and smaller buds which weren't getting any light and stealing nutes from my larger too buds.
Next time I'll be buying a tent and having a lot more room to play with

Click to expand...

Very great pics! I love the LST , looks as if you scrogged! Anyways, Just fyi this procees "remove the lower smaller buds" is more formally known as "Lolly-popping" Just Fyi to "Rezman".
This promotes better aeration and more light to be absorbed as well as better over all bud production as you remove the smaller shitlet nugs that most likley are going to not end up fully mature, or at the least a somewhat undesirable smoke, thus, removing them not only helps with the areation, but it ensures the plant gives more focus on the top/main bud sites to absorb as much light as possible throughout it's photosynthesis, rather then dividing its production for the main/top buds as well as the tiny shitlet buds. Removing them ensures all production is put forth towards what matters! Very beneficial technique.
Scrog, LST, and topping. Always beneficial.

Captain Fap said:

Any fans? How about carbon filter? Plants are looking awesome, so you got a green thumb going for ya! I recommend investing in a cooling hood, hooked to a 6 inch fan housing. If money is limited you can still setup a decent air circulation system by running smaller 4 inch duct fans pulling air from around your light and drawing it out of your tent. Also the height of the tent may not be a problem now but with a 600w light it could get out of hand easy so training is a must! Hope they keep getting fatter and taller, good luck!

Click to expand...

Wish I woulda read this post before I responded.. But yaa what he said is perfect! Get an aircooled hood for your hid, and hook up an exhaust fan to the hood, thus removing all that heat outside of the grow room, and through this causes negative pressure which in turn will also suck more air in through your intake fans/openings thus changing out the stale air within your grow room a few times a minute. Also, Carbon filter is a must when flowering... DOn't even waste the time and effort on doing them old school tricks... They may work, but trust me, buying a 100-200$ carbon filter is weeeeellll worth the investment and headache reliefs if your concerned about the odor.

Hey rezman

I personally dont like growing indoor in summertime but I can recommend a cooltube to get temps down. Best would be to get the exhaust completly blowing out of the room your grow is located in. For example out of a window.

Peace

Captain Fap said:

When I get off work I'll be more than happy to talk a few pics of my setup for reference.

Click to expand...

I would really appreciate it. When i get off in 5 hours i will take pics of my entire set up as well.

Thanks to all taking the time to help.

No problem man, I know the struggle, it's nice to have some help when experiencing problems.

I have some more questions. I did not expect anyone to help, but I tried anyway. Now that I know there r those that wanna help instead of just criticize (negative criticism instead of constructive) i would like some feedback on a few ideas.

1) Is it okay to purchase a better light hood to replace the cheap batwing I currently have?
2) Would 3-5 smaller CFLs be optimal for between and around the plants when they get bigger? Or would it be overkill? (I do not have a time limit for veg. I will flower based off of height, not time. Figuring around 20"-24" after topping/LST and hopefully at least 2.5' diameter)
3) Transplanting? Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance

Ok, here ya go! Hope these pics help.

Here is my light hood and filter setup. Air is pulled through filter then light, after that it exits the tent through the top
Here you see the tent with its duct work coming out, honestly my fan should be mounted to the wall to eliminate lenght and bends but lazyness sometimes wins. After air is pulled through the fan it's then pushed out of my stealth air return that appears to be just another window from outside I also picked the window that my Ac unit is sitting in front of so to draw even less attention

All oh those ideas are great! Like I said, just be sure to get a air cooled enclosed hood. As far as the cfls, yeah, I was thinking of doing a similar setup with the larger 100ish watt cfl tubes. Was wanting to hang 4 directly from the corners of the light hood to drop down into the foliage.