First; 5x5 1000W HID scrog w/ White Gold and The Church x Deadhead OG

Well, unfortunately my theory didn't pan out, and the high humidity kicked in immediately after lights out...the security camera helped me out a lot though, as I was able to get the humidity to 49-52% at around 79 degrees with a space heater running outside of the tent. Without messing with their darkness. I have the intake duct close to the warm air coming out of the heater. I guess I'll have to run the space heater at night until I get a DH, which sucks cause I can't afford a brand new one right now and there aren't any used ones nearby I can find...

So these are lights off pics at week 3, day 3.
I wish I had a pair of those special glasses that filters the HPS out. (Note to self: if you havent before next grow, you must order some grow glasses) I didn't get very good pics cause I didn't want to be in there for more than 30 seconds or so and it's hard to get the camera to focus.
I will post more pics during lights on.

I don't think I have any updates...Last watering 2 days ago, all I did was pH it to 6.5. After taking some lights off pics, looks like they might be wanting more ferts. Really super hard to tell with all that HPS light overpowering everything. I may do that today, they are wanting water twice as much now, so I'm going to give it them twice as much and experiment with my nutrient schedule. Perhaps Feed, Feed, Water, or something along those lines.

For scale, there is a pic with my thermo/hydrometer hanging that we all are pretty familiar with the size of.

I came close to being the owner of a whole house dehumidifier but it turned out to be a flop. I figure since I'm going on 4 weeks in, I'm going to stick with what I'm doing now. I bought a timer that turns a space heater on 5 min after lights out, and off 5 min before lights come back on. I leave the window AC at 60. Temps at canopy in tent (hottest temps I could find) are 80 with an infared heat gun during lights on and it's 80 in there at night now too. The heater has dropped the humidity to as low as 32%, but seems to hover around 40% @ 78 lights off. That's a lot better thn the 85-92% I was seeing.

I may dabble with some alternative methods that will allow me to have cooler night temps so I can try to bring out as much colors as possible towards the end, but it's good to not feel rushed about it now.

So since the last pics, (roughly 12 hour from this post) I have stripped the girls again at 3 weeks and 3 days. Well, I wouldn't say stripped, that's a bit strong. I removed about a pound or more of leaves from all three plants combined though. Will be the last such strip I do until harvest. It's addictive, once you start getting in there and opening up the plants for air and light, you just want to keep going. I kept telling myself I was going to leave one as a test, but these plants like it, so I kind of feel like it'd be a waste of time.

thermometer hot spots confirmed! In the video you can see where the white thermo/hydrometer is hanging, and it's reading 85 at canopy level. I used my thermal gun to check on it, then right next to it, same level, and surrounding areas, it reads much lower, sometimes over 10 degrees F on the gun. I guess the light heats up the plastic, whereas the plants can transpire the heat away, plastic can't. I've found that as long as the thermal gun is ambient temperature to what you're measuring, it's quite accurate. Read my tonsils at 98.7

So this is all one big experiment. I was going to try and do it right, newbie style, and not try any more advanced techniques. I realized that I don't really have anything to lose so I might as well go for the gusto. It will be interesting to see where the buds are in a week.

Feeding: Last feed was pure water, on the 23rd, no nutrients, this feed was half dose. Still 5 gallons between the 3 of them before I get 10-20% runoff. Next watering (2 days) will be full dose Dyna-Gro Bloom.

I don't see a pound in my future, but I do see 8-10 ounces of really good bud. I'm happy with that. I'll get it dialed in. Well, on to the pictures and video....








Here's the video, sums it all up pretty nice. The White Gold are the two plants on the left and the Church x Deadhead OG is the shorter one on the right. See you guys when I see you. Watch your ears, I had some music playing.

By the way you don't have to be logged in to YouTube/there's no age restriction on the videos. Just thought it would be a more immersive experience to post videos and I'll want to come back later on and see in several months or years. Some feedback would be nice lol, I know a couple of you experienced folk have been here. Don't leave me hangin, critique would be great

gjs4786 said:

By the way you don't have to be logged in to YouTube/there's no age restriction on the videos. Just thought it would be a more immersive experience to post videos and I'll want to come back later on and see in several months or years. Some feedback would be nice lol, I know a couple of you experienced folk have been here. Don't leave me hangin, critique would be great

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Ahem, @Tim1987

Its all looking very nice G
Your love and devotion is really showing.
Starting to get autumn fade too.
I love fall colours.
Looks like its starting right on time too, imo.

Few more weeks. Choppy, choppy and yum, yum.

Tim1987 said:

Its all looking very nice G
Your love and devotion is really showing.
Starting to get autumn fade too.
I love fall colours.
Looks like its starting right on time too, imo.

Few more weeks. Choppy, choppy and yum, yum.

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Thank you dude. Yeah there are no grow reports for either strain. White Gold supposedly finished 8 to 9 weeks, the other one, their mom and di finish in 8 to 9 weeks so I assume the same for it. How soon should I be looking to get a scope to inspect the trichomes? I don't want to start the flush too early, any tips on anticipating finish? I hear "when it looks like it can be harvested, is a good time to flush it" because the ripeness window lasts a good couple of weeks.

gjs4786 said:

Thank you dude. Yeah there are no grow reports for either strain. White Gold supposedly finished 8 to 9 weeks, the other one, their mom and di finish in 8 to 9 weeks so I assume the same for it. How soon should I be looking to get a scope to inspect the trichomes? I don't want to start the flush too early, any tips on anticipating finish? I hear "when it looks like it can be harvested, is a good time to flush it" because the ripeness window lasts a good couple of weeks.

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Personally id just slowly taper down your feeds. Just let it use your soil. Its already very rich from, all the feeds youve given. Even just water from here.
I wouldnt worry about trichomes for another two weeks, or so.
Try to let the plant deplete the soil.

Its more timing, than leaching, with soil imo.

You can give a good flush with water, as your last watering if you like.
But id personally, give it one last drink about a week before harvest. Then dry it out completely, until the plant is drooping right over from lack of water. Then harvest the next morning.
Thats how i personally do it with soil.

Just let the buds get all dark and stinky. Then chop it.
Id say itd be in about 3 weeks. Maybe 4.

Tim1987 said:

Personally id just slowly taper down your feeds. Just let it use your soil. Its already very rich from, all the feeds youve given. Even just water from here.
I wouldnt worry about trichomes for another two weeks, or so.
Try to let the plant deplete the soil.

Its more timing, than leaching, with soil imo.

You can give a good flush with water, as your last watering if you like.
But id personally, give it one last drink about a week before harvest. Then dry it out completely, until the plant is drooping right over from lack of water. Then harvest the next morning.
Thats how i personally do it with soil.

Just let the buds get all dark and stinky. Then chop it.
Id say itd be in about 3 weeks. Maybe 4.

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Cool. What I'll do is feed it once more at half strength, then quarter strength, then nothing (That's only about a week and a half). Yeah, I feel like I can keep feeding and stop abruptly, and there be a lot of nutrients in that soil from what I've put in there. Or, I might do an experiment and feed all three of them something different, one of them being nothing but water. That's probably what I'll do, lol.

You know I'll be posting here religiously, so I also have confidence in you (and other viewers) to voice their opinions ahead of time a couple weeks as to when to chop, based of pics and trichome color.

I know it's one of the more controversial skills/techniques/research topics on RIU so I'll try to follow what you say as best I can, but I can easily see myself playing around with the other two so other growers would have a couple of options, that's why I started this after all, because there aren't any journals for these strains....

Thanks as always, Tim

gjs4786 said:

Cool. What I'll do is feed it once more at half strength, then quarter strength, then nothing (That's only about a week and a half). Yeah, I feel like I can keep feeding and stop abruptly, and there be a lot of nutrients in that soil from what I've put in there. Or, I might do an experiment and feed all three of them something different, one of them being nothing but water. That's probably what I'll do, lol.

You know I'll be posting here religiously, so I also have confidence in you (and other viewers) to voice their opinions ahead of time a couple weeks as to when to chop, based of pics and trichome color.

I know it's one of the more controversial skills/techniques/research topics on RIU so I'll try to follow what you say as best I can, but I can easily see myself playing around with the other two so other growers would have a couple of options, that's why I started this after all, because there aren't any journals for these strains....

Thanks as always, Tim

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No problem G.

I'll keep popping around.
If you want any suggestions, just holla

I don't like telling people how they should do things.
But if I'm asked a question, I'll happily speak my mind.

Your plants are looking splendid!

Tim1987 said:

No problem G.

I'll keep popping around.
If you want any suggestions, just holla

I don't like telling people how they should do things.
But if I'm asked a question, I'll happily speak my mind.

Your plants are looking splendid!

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I'm not one of those types of people that loses their shit when someone offers constructive criticism. I can see how you could be gun shy on here but I assure you, you'd have to make a pretty unique threat or push some real buttons to have me acting crazy like that. My view, is that this is an educational community first and foremost. You may see me offering help to those that are less along than I am, because I feel like you get out what you put in . And thanks, they are looking good aren't they? They really kind of snuck up on me with that trichome production. Hard to see that true under HPS light, so those lights off pics really caught me be surprise. I've been waiting to take pics like that for years man. And it happened by accident. Growing really doesn't let go of you once it grabs hold...

gjs4786 said:

I'm not one of those types of people that loses their shit when someone offers constructive criticism. I can see how you could be gun shy on here but I assure you, you'd have to make a pretty unique threat or push some real buttons to have me acting crazy like that. My view, is that this is an educational community first and foremost. You may see me offering help to those that are less along than I am, because I feel like you get out what you put in . And thanks, they are looking good aren't they? They really kind of snuck up on me with that trichome production. Hard to see that true under HPS light, so those lights off pics really caught me be surprise. I've been waiting to take pics like that for years man. And it happened by accident. Growing really doesn't let go of you once it grabs hold...

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Thanks mate!
I reckon next feed cut by 20%. Then 40%. Then stop. (should be around week 6, by the time youre down to just water)
Then wait until your trichomes are almost cloudy across the board, with just a smidgen of amber. Then give that big last drink and dry it right out for about a week until it droops. Chop. Hang. Cure. Done.

Week 4 Day 2
Well, bitches got pregnant! I found some seeds on the Church x Deadhead plant. I can't seem to find any obvious seed husks on the two White Golds. At first I thought they were all pollinated. but I don't think that's the case. Buds are getting bigger, fatter, frostier. Past two waterings have been plain water. I'll start back feeding her a little here and there, I'll experiment. Still at least 4 weeks to go, that's if she finishes in 8 weeks. Supposedly, this is a 8-9 week strain...Ao maybe 5 weeks left. In any case, I'm on the home stretch!

I cut some larf off and let it dry out, from both plants, and while the quality isn't where it will be, both of it is still very good. The Church x Deadhead puts my wife to sleep in about 5 minutes. Can definitely tell they're two different strains. Check out the pic below, the white plants are the white golds, and the one on the right is the church x deadhead og. The deadhead has trichs just no where near the white gold!





This bud is about beer bottle size for scale









See y'all in a week! Keep it dialed in!

LOVELY Gman!

Yeah thanks I just licked my phone..

Looking great man

I gotta say, after chopping all her leaves off, from week to week, if you look at it from week to week, obviously a lot of energy goes into making more fan leaves. I don't have a non-chomped plant to compare with (ughh, that would have been nice) But they swear that makes larger buds by (thinning). Seems like the plant was naked and then more water leaves like a week later, look, after cut:



Week later;

What I'm trying to say is all that regeneration for leaves...that seem like it would split the plants production in to buds during its latter life between buds and water leaves.

I don't know though, I guess I'll have to get a plant where I don't mess with the water leaves to really see for myself. I clipped because of the fear of powdery mildew and I cut everything. Looking back I guess that's a ventilation and air circulation issue and I should get a couple more fans...

gjs4786 said:

What I'm trying to say is all that regeneration for leaves...that seem like it would split the plants production in to buds during its latter life between buds and water leaves.

I don't know though, I guess I'll have to get a plant where I don't mess with the water leaves to really see for myself. I clipped because of the fear of powdery mildew and I cut everything. Looking back I guess that's a ventilation and air circulation issue and I should get a couple more fans...

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Personally,
I say let them finish up.
They need the rest of those imo

They're looking great

Tim1987 said:

Personally,
I say let them finish up.
They need the rest of those imo

They're looking great

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I was BAKED when I posted that. I had something to say but by the time I had typed out everything leading up to it, I blanked out, LoL. I'm letting them all finish. I think what I was getting to, is the fan leaves. After only a week of trimming, look how much they have grown back out. So I think what I was trying to get to, is that thinning helps the plant to get more light and air circulation, but it looks like the plant puts a lot more energy into growing fan leaves back out, as opposed to bud production. I wonder how that could interact with fertilizer needs. You would think growing out more greenery like fan leaves would require more nitrogen. In othe words, other than air circulation, i don't know how effective this technique is. I would have to grow the same strain again and have better air circulation / humidity control to see if it actually made a difference. I hope that makes better sense as to what I was getting to

Here is a pic I said I'd post for a follower. This is a premature White Gold bud I got off the plant that wasn't going to mature properly. I dried it out in the oven over the course of about an hour. I was fascinated with it, so by the time I took this pic I had handled it a lot and squished it. It's like smoking syrup though. So sticky.