T5 SCROG-Apollo Hash

Week 6 of flower.

The yellowing has taken over 80% of the leaves, luckily not the sugar leaves though. It then turns to crispy brown and falls off. I am convinced that I made the switch from high N to low N when switching to 12/12 way too fast. Next cycle I will follow the feeding schedule a little closer and wont be afraid to give em what they can handle. Bud growth is not amazing but definitely on par for this light set up. More than anything, the the nugs are solid and incredibly sticky. Because of thier deficiency, Im planning on feeding them up to a week before harvest and then a simple flush. I have read deep flushing is un needed with organic grows. I am more concerned with a good cure. We shall see. Bout 2.5 weeks left.

Week 8 of flower:

Done.
Last night of light...then a bit of a sleep, dry, cure, smoke.
Girls got one last big feed two weeks ago and have since finished up on two big waters with molasses.
Its been a really awesome grow and I feel I have learned much. But much more to learn. If ever I grow this strain again, I will veg in the screen way longer, as she had zero stretch. I would also revise my feeding to include much more N with a gradual ween into flower...I was way to abrupt. And although cooling passively with only oscillating fans is awesome, these lights (at least 16 of them) do produce some heat. I will definitely have a proper exhaust set up next run. With all said and done, I anticipate great quality from this harvest. The sample I took last week sent me to the outer reaches of space but still very big body high. I will follow up once more with a post harvest report. If anyone gained anything from this grow than thats great...and if anyone ever has a question that pertains to of this, dont hesitate.
Peace.

dammit..i had a whole post typed out and fuckiing deleted it by accident!

anyways, your setup is really clean. a buddy of mine suggested i run 2 lights in my tent the way you do, so it's nice to see a proper visual for his idea. i share your disappointment in the t5 light's heat production..definitely had more trouble with heat than expected.

my girls are actually 2½ months into veg now. they're stretching towards the screen as i type (i'm hoping to flip at the 3 month mark). since your grow is coming to an end you are welcome to follow mine, you can find the link in my sig.

Well Mints,
I can say this...if you plan to run two 8 bulbs fixtures, you will want an exhaust system in place. I had to run four oscillating fans full boar to keep temp in the lower 80's with windows open at night in the high sierras during winter. This set up would not work otherwise.
Having to run all those fans negates the whole idea of a minimalist grow. I already have my filter and inline fan ready for the next one...I dont anticipate the energy consumption will be any more than four oscillating fans. I need to give these lights another go with a better yielding strain to truly make an intelligent judgement on them. Aside from not filling in my screens enough, I am on par with what I expected from this low yielding strain. But if it grows similar with a higher yeilder, than one must question utilizing nearly 900 watts of fluorescent to achieve half of what a comparable wattage hps could get. Especially since you are not saving much on cooling. I am definitely not giving up on the t5's...just need more cycles to gain a clearer picture.
Also, having the lights tiered presented some challenges in regards to air distribution and watering. Without an exhaust, hot air trapped itself more around the upper screen and, it appears, has negatively impacted the yield as the lower screen has out performed with cooler air down there...and this was with alot of air movement and flaps open. It is a great space saver modality, just get your air flow dialed in. Also, with watering, unless you are painstakingly meticulous and slow in your method, you will get alot of water on your lower light. I would suggest larger run off trays, but not a solid board as this will add to your air flow challenges too.
I am giving these ol' ladies another day under the t5 sun and then lights out until Friday. Snip snip snip! I will check out your grow mints...thanks for following mine. I will let you know when the next cycle begins shortly.

Final Post

Trim went well. Pretty damn easy since most of the fans had fallen off. Dry time was about 4 days at 50 RH/65F. Cut em into the jars just before they got to snap.

Bud report: Buds came out many but quite airy and dried down to a bunch of thumbs. Tips seem to be nice and dense but lose that quickly down the bud. For wehat they lack in density they make up for in resin. Under a jewelers scope they look like theyve come in form a blizzard. Very stoked on quality despite initial appearance. Final dry weight came in at a measly 8 oz. It was about what I was expecting with this strain, but as stated in the previous post, it does beckon some re consideration as to max potential with T5's.

Smoke report: Well without a cure, they still taste damn good to me, almost like a sweet, syrupy diesel flavor. Smoke is quite smooth. High is a perfect in between of heavy sedative body high, and spacey cerebral, able to focus but able to drift kinda high. I like it just fine but find 3 hits puts me over into the nonsensical, fragmented mind high.
So yeah, this will last me.

Hope anyone who comes across this finds it useful. My overall thoughts on this cycle and set up are that T5's can produce good high potency weed, but all the adages spread around the forums seem to be generally true in that yield and density may suffer. If I were to do a smaller closet grow and use one 8bulb panel I think that would be tits for such a small situation...but using 16 bulbs at 860 watts produced enough heat and required so many extra watts to keep cool that I it only makes sense to invest those high of watts into a proven light system that will give you more for your dollar. With all that said, I have decided on a 1000w hps on an XL air cooled reflector for the next cycle. Because, let be honest, more is usually better when it comes to herb Peace yall.


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