My Set-up: Questions and Comments

Intro:
This is my first ever post to an online forum, so forgive me if anything seems foolish. I have harvested one female plant in my cannibus growing career and was not happy with the product. After lots of research, I think I am better prepared for further growing. I am currently groing a couple of cute female twins in a small indoor space. I am going to offer some descriptions about my personal set-up as well as some visual aids. At the end of my post I am going to leave a couple of common recurring questions I have had so far and hopefully some people will be able to help me out. So let's start.

1. From a Distance


For my lighting option, I chose a Thunder Starter Kit with a 425W ballast. The ballast is equipped with an adjustable wattage output (150W-425). Also pictured out of focus, I have a timer for my light adjusted to a 18-6 schedule for my time in the vegatative state.


Like I said earlier, I am working with a relatively small amount of space (apartments in the city are not space-friendly when it comes to financial limitations). My grow tent has the dimensions 30"x18"x36" and is covered by a light-cancelling curtain to keep the tent more vacuum sealed. My ventalation system involves an intake and exhaust fan on both sides connected through exhaust holes placed towards top of the grow tent.


This is my exhaust fan on the right side of my grow tent. The tape is just being used as a sort of sheild to prevent lost fingers. I am using 6" ducts throughout my whole ventalation system (fans, ducts, carbon filter, and light hood).

2. A Look Inside
This is the path that my intake fan takes into the grow space. I have read that it is not good to have many bends in your ventalation ducts due to loss of ventalation power. I have gone ahead and routed the duct like so in thinking the duct arrangement is acceptable.


This is where my exhaust duct exits the tent. With the Thunder Starter Kit I purchased I received a reflective cooling hood for my plant lights. My exhaust duct starts on the floor of my tent with a carbon filter, runs upward through the light hood, and out of the grow space.

3. The Big Picture

Here you can see my carbon filter placed in the back left corner and linked to the light hood. I am using a Metal Halide Sky Blue 400W light (I know, this light looks a little too red. I just realized I had the wrong light in and switched it.). Not pictured, in the front right corner towards the bottom of my tent is my thermometer. I keep my space at a constant 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This is not my ideal temperature. I would like my plants to live in 75 degree environment if possible.

4. The Twins: Mary-Kate and Ashley

Here are my baby girls (gallon jug for size comparison). They are both are from the same strain of a White Widow. I haven't confirmed the sex of them yet but early signs have shown them to be most likely be female. Both seedlings were transplanted to soil on the same day and time and are currently on day 25 of vagatative growth. Mary-Kate (the much bushier plant on the left) has grown to be a pretty stout cannibus plant so far. The length of stem between nodes didn't really allow topping so I went ahead and got straight to my LST. Ashley (the taller thinner plant on the right), on the other hand, sprouted rapidly in height. I was able to top the plant's main cola to produce 2 main ones. I did this when the plant had six nodes and chopped off after the third node. For my version of LST, I have been using mostly green plant wire. I have been attempting to wind the main stems around the pot in a clockwise fashion, bringing the taller new growths down, tricking the plant to focus on other older growths of the plant. Mary-Kate has been more difficult to train than Ashley due to her thick canopy created by the "solar panel" leaves and closely grown nodes.


Here is a view from above the volumtuous Mary-Kate. As you can see, the leaves are a healthy dark green and the top cola is pulled downward and clockwise to the pot. I am connecting the plant wire to angled slices in the side of the pot, wooden posts placed in the soil, as well as a long piece of heavy metal laid across the top of the pot. I have trained her other growths to extend towards the inside and outside perimeter of the the pot. Some of these growths are bent backwards in relation to the plant's main stem.


Another aerial view from inside of my tent, this time of Ashley. As you can see, she is not as thick as her sister. It is difficult to see, but if comparing the two plants, you might be able to see that the depth perception shows Ashley is a bit taller than Mary-Kate. You also might be able to follow the main stem a little better on Ashely, which starts supported by some soft wire and a wooden stake, moving in a clockwise fashion up to the two top colas; one is bent back towards and connected to that same stake supporting the main stem, the other pulled in the same way more along the pots parimeter. I just recently LST'ed them about 30 minutes prior to taking pictures of them.

5. Conclusion: Questions, Concerns, Findings
As stated in my intro of this post, this is only my second grow. I understand I have much to learn in the art of growing marijuana and I think I am on the right path by starting here. I will start here with my questions:
Q1: Mary-Kate is a very bushy plant, making her hard to train. Is there something I can do to make her longer? Maybe I am trying to train her too much? Are there any other techniques I can use?
Q2: I am unsatisfied with my grow tent temperature. What are some other ways to make the space cooler for the twins? (Preferably, a cheap one.) Also, could the temperature problem be a product of the routing of my ducts?
Q3: I have heard of people trimming in vegitative state. Is this a good idea and if so, what parts should a grower trim?
Hopefully, some of you more advanced growers can help me with these concerns.

Well, that just about wraps it up for this post. Thank you in advance for all the help and hopefully I helped some people with this post as well. Can't wait for the feedback!

My advice would not be to trim them until Much later. Once you get into 12/12 your plants won't be growing too many more leaves at all. Remember buds don't have the power of fan leaves to provide the energy. This may sound controversial...bud sites are going to bud even when fan leaves "block the light ". I fell into this belief but wrongly so. Your plant will be better off removing only those shade leaves that are dying.

Mary Kate will stretch when HPS hits her. Trimming in veg? Do it low if at all. The extreme bends in your ducting causes severe slowing of the air flow.Any bend does but severe angles are the worst.Try to make it gradual instead of 90. Remove the tape from the end and just watch your fingers. Those motors are tiny and won't lop off the finger. Increase fan size for better temp control.

Read up on supercropping too. Love the chicks here. Naming the plants and all.

1. Don't worry about the chubby girl. She will do her stretching those first couple weeks of flower. Just let her grow.

2. Not sure I am picturing this correctly, but it certainly seems your exhaust starts from the floor right where your intake assumedly dumps the room's cool air. Any way to raise and hang your carbon filter at your light height or higher? Just for fun, detach your filter and and exhaust from the ceiling and see what happens with your temp.

3. Don't be cutting.

Oh and now that your pictures have loaded...

Smaller ductwork/filter would be reasonable and give you more room. But you are also exhausting into the closet ... You need to exhaust someplace outside the closet.

Thank you all for the help. This is the exact feedback I was hoping for. I am going to alter the fans/exhaust system in order to create better airflow. The temperature has dropped due to the blue light, I believe. Also, I have been contemplating different grow tent options for a while now and from some of the responses I think it is the right thing to do. I will post more pics of the twins in a week or so showing their progress. Thanks again everyone!

I would move your fresh air flow to the other side of the tent if possible. Reason is it's right next to your exhaust.. so a lot of fresh air is just being pulled through.

Q1: You want a bushy plant, and you definitely do not want a long plant given your height constraints. I would start flowering very soon otherwise you'll run out of space. Remember to test temps at actual height of tops.
Q2: Where is the closest source of cool air? You can build a box behind a window, block it out with curtains and create an intake that way (with screen to keep out bugs of course).
Q3: Look up "lollipopping". Basically trim everything maybe 2-4 inches (for your setup) from ground up on stem. Helps airflow at soil level and focuses plant energy to areas receiving more light.

infdjedi said:

I would move your fresh air flow to the other side of the tent if possible. Reason is it's right next to your exhaust.. so a lot of fresh air is just being pulled through.

Q1: You want a bushy plant, and you definitely do not want a long plant given your height constraints. I would start flowering very soon otherwise you'll run out of space. Remember to test temps at actual height of tops.
Q2: Where is the closest source of cool air? You can build a box behind a window, block it out with curtains and create an intake that way (with screen to keep out bugs of course).
Q3: Look up "lollipopping". Basically trim everything maybe 2-4 inches (for your setup) from ground up on stem. Helps airflow at soil level and focuses plant energy to areas receiving more light.

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In regards to switching to 12/12, what amount of time should I remain in veg state?

It's a matter of space rather than time in this case. Plants can double or triple in height during the stretch. When you flip to 12/12, they'll increase dramatically in height for about the next 3-4 weeks or so. That's 'the stretch'. (Sorry if you knew that already, maybe a future reader will not.)
If they get too tall you can bend them over & tie them, but you're tight on horizontal space too. I looked at the pictures again, is your light as high as it will go? If so, I'd flip soon. Real soon.
Plants look good, btw.

SmallindoorGrow said:

In regards to switching to 12/12, what amount of time should I remain in veg state?

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I would switch right now. It's better to have a few extra inches to spare than have to constantly fight with your plant to tie it down.

Fuck yeah. Switch switch switch and I would actually have my veg light on 24/7 to keep plants from stretching if I were you

I am now on 12/12. Probably going to start trimming some low leaves tomorrow. I am in the process of constrcting a new grow medium for Mary-Kate and Ashley. I'm excited to make a new thread about it because its pretty damn creative if you ask me. Anyone have a favorite fertilizer for flowering stage?

Bad news guys. Both Mary-Kate and Ashley pulled a "Kaitlyn Jenner" on me. I thought for sure from the preceeding signs I could tell they were female but unfortunately, that is not the case. Like I said, I have a new growing medium almost done being built for my next plants that I think you guys will like. I went ahead and ordered feminized seeds to start over and ensure this type of dissapointment and defeat doesnt occur again.