DillWeed's 2009 summer grow journal: Two Lbs. or Bust! (2x1000 watt HPS in grow tent)

DillWeed

Well-Known Member
Day 19:
June 20, 2009

So, I repotted my plants in 2 gallon pots today along with giving them their first taste of nutes. I used 7 gallons of water (ph down to 6.5) with one teaspoon of Fox Farms Grow Big and one tablespoon of Fox Farms Big Bloom per gallon.

I am going to give them one more night under just the two 400 watt MH lights for 24/0 and tomorrow I will add one of my 1000 watt HPS lights and set the timers to an 18/6 schedule.

Pics attached for your enjoyment below as usual.

One more thing, the new version of Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil is fucking terrible! I had read that elsewhere here on the forum, but I didn't believe it since that stuff has always been awesome for me. Good thing I still had two bags leftover from last year's grow. This new formula sucks. The soil is far too dry and the water drains through instantly. If the drainage issue doesn't improve, I may have to remove my plants and find another medium for them. All 12 White Widow plants and one Cheese plant are in the good quality soil. The other 7 are in this new bullshit. Grrr!
 

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DillWeed

Well-Known Member
Hey Dillweed, what do you think about Super Bloom for flowering? its got 12-55-9 (chemical). thats what im using. do you think you could possibly replace one of your nutes with this one or even use it as a supplemental nute?

product info:
GREEN LIGHT 97001 GREENLIGHT SUPER BLOOM FERTILIZER 1 LB
Wow, that is some heavy duty stuff right there, my friend! I don't know how that would make the plants react. It seems like there is almost too much phosphorus in there and it would give the plants nitrogen deficiency but perhaps I'm wrong. You did your entire last grow with that stuff, right? How much do you use per gallon?
 

tilemaster

Well-Known Member
Sup Dill, thought id drop a line..ur babies look healthy...how your temps been of late..Hope ur able to find that happy medium...and U get that 2+ i think u will.. ill be wathchn.. TM
 

DillWeed

Well-Known Member
My temps have been right around 78 with the lights on which is just where I want them. The humidity has been a bit low at around 40% or so, but it better to be a little bit low than a little bit high. When I stick that 1000 watt HPS light in there I may have to adjust my AC intake, but we shall see. I think everything will be just fine! :joint:
 

DillWeed

Well-Known Member
Day 20:
June 21, 2009

I added one of my 1000 watt HPS lights to go along with the two 400 watt MH lights that were already in the tent to the newly repotted plants. I manually unplugged my lights at exactly 2:00 am and plugged them into the timers to come back on at 8:00 am and back off at 2:00 am and so on and so forth. I will continue the vegetation phase in this fashion for the next 2-3 weeks, or until the plants look big enough to produce those monster colas that I like to grow! Pics attached below as always...

Pic 1 - a shot of my 1000 watt HPS CoolStar ballast. This thing is totally awesome in every which way.

Pic 2 - a shot of the inside of the tent shortly before lights out with the HPS light giving it a nice orange hue.

Pic 3 - a shot of the plants just after I cut out the lights, notice that the entire front row and the first two plants from the left of the second row look a lot dryer than the others. That is because those are the ones that were planted in the new version of the Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil. I'm telling you, something is just not right with this new mix of theirs. We'll see.

Pic 4 - a shot of everything just before I zipped the tent up to give my plants the first good night sleep they've ever had.
 

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DillWeed

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Day 21:
June 22, 2009

I ran into a few minor electrical problems, but they were resolved by mid-day. I forgot to scout out the electrical capabilities of my plants' new home before I added the new, additional lighting and had a few blown fuses before I fixed the problem. Everything is still looking good and overall the plants look very happy now with 1800 watts of HID lighting on them. They should start to grow at a much better rate, especially now that they are being fed nutrients as well. Everything should be smooth sailing from here, friends.
 

KittenKiller

Well-Known Member
Wow, that is some heavy duty stuff right there, my friend! I don't know how that would make the plants react. It seems like there is almost too much phosphorus in there and it would give the plants nitrogen deficiency but perhaps I'm wrong. You did your entire last grow with that stuff, right? How much do you use per gallon?
lol too much phosphorus. my last grow was organic- used Earth Juice Bloom. I'm using last grow's yield (just over an ounce) as a control for best nutes. Ill use Fox Farms' big 3 next time around and let you in on the goods so you can pick the most effective one. So far on this grow, the highest concentration of Super Bloom I have given to my plants is 1/2 strength. Just mixed up a gallon of full strength Super Bloom ready for tommorrow's watering. One of the strains im growing this time, Big Bang, i grew last time as well but in an organic grow. Since this grow now is chemical, ill be happy to put my 2 cents in on RIU about which I personally thought has better taste, burning quality, scent, etc. The organic bud smelled REALLY good when fully dried tho. it was only 8g tho. How heavy are your colas dried?

I have a new question about cola sizes:
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/206363-larger-colas-raising-lights.html

happy growing my friend :D
 

DillWeed

Well-Known Member
I'll definitely take your word for it regarding the nutes. I have pretty much sworn to stay organic, but if the increase in yield is that dramatic then I don't suppose it will kill me to try some of the nuclear juice on a few plants. Definitely keep us all posted on that.

Also, I yielded roughly 2.5 ounces per plant on my last grow which is generally what I am going for here. Anything over 60 grams I consider a bonus. My largest cola on my last grow weighed about 51 grams dry which was at least 7 grams more than the second biggest one.
 

DillWeed

Well-Known Member
its looking really nice m8,they should grow nice under all that light.
Thanks! I'm really hoping so. I have ran into a bit of a temperature problem (temps have been in the high 80s and have even hit 90+ a few times) since I put the 1000 watt HPS in there with the others, but I am currently working on a solution that should alleviate this problem all together. When all is said and done, the temperature should be back down in the high 70's and shouldn't exceed 80 degrees if executed properly. :joint:
 

Topher89

Active Member
Great setup Dill, Def. Subscribed and along for the ride.

Just as a thought... How much have you spent on the setup not including seeds? Just curious.

Keep up the good shit friend!
 

bigjesse1922

Well-Known Member
I am curious to get some more details as to how you are going to get your heat under control.

For me, this is the last thing I feel I really need to master so if I can pick something up for you......ya know?
 

DillWeed

Well-Known Member
Great setup Dill, Def. Subscribed and along for the ride.

Just as a thought... How much have you spent on the setup not including seeds? Just curious.

Keep up the good shit friend!
Thanks for the kind words, friend!

Let's see:

1- Grow tent - $250
2- 1000 watt Coolstar HPS system - $450
3- 1000 watt Sunleaves HPS system - $350
4- 2 400 watt utility MH systems - $300
5- 2 424 cfm high velocity fans - $200
6- 1 carbon filter - $100
7- 6,000 BTU AC untit - $150
8- various accessories (hydrometer, nutes, pots, soil, ph down, oscillating fan, ducting, etc. etc.) - $200

All in all my set up cost about $2000 to get it going. I do incur a few maintenance costs here and there as well, so I'd say that you would need around $2500 to spare to set up something the way I have it and be able to maintain it for a 14-15 week grow cycle.

Also, my electric bill runs me about $150 a month or so and I also paid for top of the line genetics. That's another $600-$800 bucks right there for bills and genetics, but if you can pull two pounds on every grow then it is very worth it. :joint:
 

DillWeed

Well-Known Member
I am curious to get some more details as to how you are going to get your heat under control.

For me, this is the last thing I feel I really need to master so if I can pick something up for you......ya know?
I am going to post a detailed description of how I am accomplished this as soon as I am finished with it, including pics. So don't worry, bro! :weed:
 

DillWeed

Well-Known Member
Day 24:
June 25, 2009

The plants have responded well to having all that extra light and to the nutrients they are being fed. Everyone looks quite happy and the different strains are growing at a little bit of a different rate, but as you can see everything is copacetic all things considered. Pics are attached below for enjoyment as always.
 

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DillWeed

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Day 28:
June 29, 2009

The kids are starting to look more like teenagers each and every day. The newer batch of Ocean Forest soil is starting to retain water just as good as the old batch which makes me very happy. As you can see, they've done a bit of growing up over the last four days and may be ready for flowering in the next week or so. I'm thinking as soon as everyone is 12" tall I will change the light cycle. Obviously by the time the last one is that tall some will be at least 16" or so because they are growing at different rates. The two TrainWreck plants are already 9" and 8" respectively. What do you guys think of that idea? Pics attached below as always. Enjoy!
 

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DillWeed

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Is it just me, or are my pictures not loading? Please give me some feedback, friends! If they aren't working for you I will start hosting them elsewhere and embed them into my messages. Thanks!
 
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