Multiple Tent LED & HPS Grow Current -- 3x Super Critical & Critical + 1x Sensi Star

[ECCannaCure 7]

Heya folks,

October 31st, 2016 -- Happy Halloween!

  Hope everyone is ready for another work weed *blah* and has their medicine all ready for the week. I used to keep my current journals and logs on this forum, however this will be my first post/grow journal on this forum in many years so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ryan(or ECCannaCure), I'm in my early 30s and have been growing cannabis for 12years now. I mostly grow for the purpose of creating my own supply so to speak, however I do help a few of my close friends obtain quality and fully transparent medicine. I'm constantly trying/creating new strains and techniques as I believe that we have only begun to scratch the surface on this most sacred of plants, and any idea that makes sense on paper should be experimented with at least once. If it works - great, if not, lesson learned. 

  It's a bit late here and I have just finished doing some maintenance so I'm going to cut this introduction short for now, with the intentions of filling in the rest when I have more time but to get down to business, the great folks at GreenHouseSeeds/StrainHunters have provided me with the magical beans in order to create a journal for you all on 3 different strains they currently carry. Those 3 strains are Super Critical, Nevilles Haze, and The Church. The only strain I have previous experience with is The Church, and it quickly became a favorite among my inner circle of friends. I have grown other Critical strains, but never Super Critical by StrainHunters so I am very excited to see the results as StrainHunters always provides top notch genetics to their customers. I started the Super Critical 2 weeks ago, and tomorrow depending on how busy I am with trick or treaters I will begin to add pictures of the progress so far as well as provide a list of the equipment and nutrients I am working with. I love doing side by sides, and with 3 tents in production at the moment this will be constantly upgraded with all the strains I am working with. Hopefully someone reading this will maybe learn a thing or two and hopefully I am able to learn a thing or two from the commentators, as I am always interested in hearing new ideas and construction criticism.

TO BE CONTINUED -- Check back Oct31st-November 1st.

Updated: Nov. 15th (SORRY For the delay, was very busy with work)

Work has kept me away from updating this journal, however it is never to busy to deprive me with my time with my ladies. I have kept a log for the journal but have yet to copy it over to the forums so without further a do, my progress so far with these 3 beautiful strains. (Super Critical, Neville's Haze, The Church) With only Super Critical in production at the moment along with one Critical + Sensi Star I carried over from a previous batch that I had pollinated myself using a beautiful Critical mother and a Sensi Star stud.

Super Critical -- 56 Days Flowering Time, Mostly indica strain. Consists of: Big Bud x Skunk x White Widow genetically. (yum yum, just the genetics sound like a winner). A very good  producer providing an above average yield. 4 Plants will be flowered in a DWC-R system under a mix of 2 Mars Hydro 700W LED lights and a 600W digital HPS light running at 450-600W. Plants veg veg'd under a Mars Hydro 600W LED light, however I usually use a 4 Foot 4 Tube  Fluroscent grow lighting system by HydroFarm, but decided to try the 600W LED for this harvest. These plants will be housed in a 8x4 grow tent and given ample room to spread their branches and grow. My plan is to flower these strains using LST during the final weeks of veg and beginning of flower and ultimately a controlled canopy using a  SCRoG net. Plants will be grown using mostly nutes from the Advanced Nutrients product line for both Veg and Flower. Complete line up will be displayed in photos detailed within this grow journal however off the top of my head I'm using Sensi A & B, B-52, House and Gardens Roots excelleratur(excellent product! well worth its expensive cost.), and Liquid Karma for the vegetation period and for flower my nutes cosist of Advanced Nutrients Connoisseur A & B, B-52, Big Bud, Bud Factor X, Bud Ignitor, Rhino Skin, Liquid Karma, and Advanced Nutrients all natural PH up and PH down for pH Control in the reservoir. Black strap mollasses are also used in the final weeks of flower, which replaces advanced nutrients Bud Candy. 

I do have a hand in a friend of mines ebb and flower 4 table 8x4 open room growand we recently made the switch to Remo Nutrients 7-part nutrient line and have been enjoying fantastic results at a fraction of the cost. With that I will probably do a side by side with remo vs AN on the Church Strain.. Not sure if I'll use HPS or LED lighting but it will be a true side by side and if remo continues to out preform then I will be using the stock I have left of AN and changing all my grow areas to remo nutrients.

Seeds began germination October 6th and were germinated using the wet towel in a book method, all seeds popped and looked to have healthy looking tap roots. Plants were transported into rapid rooters and placed into their DWC-R buckets October 11th to begin their vege period under 2 700W LED lights in a 8x4 tent.

<Pictures are being uploaded>

 

A photo of the seeds and packaging received from my friends at Green House Seeds.

Inside of the tent ready for the ladies.

A group of some of my nutrients being used on this grow.

First week of vegetation.

Start of the second week of Vege.

Looking nice and healthy.

Topped and lollipopped.

Aftermath of some SuperCropping LST

More aftermath of supercropping, dont worry they will be looking happy as ever in a few hours.

Back to their old selves and beaming for the light a few hours after getting SuperCropped.

Building a custom SCRoG net for this new tent.

Just changed the lighting sched and starting first week of Flower.

Another small trimming and 1st day of Flower for the ladies.

A bit more SuperCropping to get the limbs partially trained for the SCRoG net.

 

 

Ill be adding captions and time lines to these photos  later tonight. Real life calls at the moment but they look upet in some pictures due to the supercropping and LST Ive been doing.

[ECCannaCure 7]

I have started a blog as well as a platform to share my grows, cloning, and harvests with you all and am going to see which seems to garner the most interest. This Super Critical ( and 1 left over sensi star + critical I thought would be cool to grow next to the super criticals) grow has been a very interesting grow. Not only with moving into a new place and starting fresh (from seeds opposed to from clone as I normally do), and jointly opening a new hydroponic business with a new business partner (Support Hillside Hydroponics -- Moncton NB, Canada || Grand Opening February 6th, 2017) has forced me a little bit away from keeping this as updated as I'd like, as I'm aiming for 1 update every 1-2 days. Also working on getting my forum skills to add a little dazzle and appeal to the appearance of my grow log as well as blog so as not to have everything a big ole cluster of f$@K's .. so bare with me, as it shall be well worth the wait, haha. I must say I am entering the 3rd week of Flower and the ladies are looking healthy and the genetics seem solid. Of the 3 Super Critical beans I sprouted I have got 3 different phenotypes and each plant has its own unique profile. My "The Church" beans are in their 3rd day as seedlings and will be transplanted into their "forever homes -- haha" in 48hours. The Church plants, unlike the Super Critical, will be transplanted in rockwool cubes into their own independent 5Gal DWC buckets, where as Super Critical is in a DWC-R system that is fed from one common reservoir. This will allow me to do some side by side testing with The Church and test out nutrient levels, ph levels, and nutrient manufacturers to see which preforms better overall, or which preforms better in certain areas including resin production, terp profile, bud production, and all sorts of aspects we've grown to find fascinating. Here's some quick photos from right before lights off this morning showing each plants distinct appearance, while all still sharing the same genetics.

Here is a picture of the group of ladies.

Here is the readings from my tri-meter prior to lights off.

This is Super Critical Mistress #2, she exhibited slower growth then the other 2 but seemed the most healthy during veg and the first 3 weeks of flower with very dark green and early onset of bud production. Displaying strong indica dominant genetics. Very excited to see how this one turns out as it is now out growing Super Critical #3 and remains seemingly the most healthy with beautiful shiny white roots just waiting to fill the entire bucket. I expect it to stay short and bushy and perfect for SCRoG set ups. I have a mother cut from this plant as I plan to keep Super Critical in my grow room in the foreseeable future to experiment with it as well as other StrainHunter/GreenHouse Seeds genetics.

This is Super Critical #1 which is much lighter in color then #2. It exhibited the most vigorous growth of the 3 Super Critical's with a very sativa-dominant leaf structure then the other 2, which is interesting as the only 2 phenotypes Ive personally seen for this particular strain were indica dominant and I've been unable to find much in relation to Super Critical producing a sativa-dominant phentype as of yet. Maybe a reader of this forum can enlighten me or share their experience if they've ever ran into a sativa dom Super Critical. It does seem to be a little more touchy on pH and ppm levels then its other phenotypes, so I've had to watch and adjust for that seeing as its a shared reservoir. 

And lastly we have Super Critical Mistress #3. This indica dominant phenotype is much closer in comparison to SC #2, however the leaves on this little lady are not as dark as #2 and has a higher leaf to calyx ratio. She has taken more work thinning, and LST to have her branch out and produce 4 main colas. No mothers were taken from this plant as it seemed to be the weak kitty of the litter(but ive been proven wrong many times before), but we will watch its growth in the coming weeks and see how it preforms and produces. Cant wait!

Here is another angle of the ladies in all their glory. Will be doing some maintenance tonight and get them thinned out and spiffed up Wish I could get them spliffed up but we are about 4-5 weeks away from that. Darn plants why you not grow every week

[ECCannaCure 7]

Another quick update. We are on 3weeks and 4days of the flower period. Although this was not really planned, and something more or less I thought i'd just try and because of a burned out bulb and a dud .. (or previously burned out bulb that was placed in the wrong area).. back up bulb.. I was forced to use, or at least start with, a 600W dimmable digital ballast w/ EYE Hortilux 600W Super HPS  -- (( no not all bulbs are made the same, some are much more superior and this is one of those bulbs. Make sure you keep your bulb clean by washing every 2-3 weeks and this will not disappoint! But at $120 a bulb.. it should work good.. )). I must warn you though, I was a naysayer at first, but LED lights have really started to impress me. The recent lights a few companies are releasing are doing very well in side by sides and I think the technology is starting to get there. Mind you this is a 1200W LED vs a 600W HPS but I believe the true wattage of the LED and actual pull is comparable to the HPS, however this is a shared lighting situation and can not accurately shine any real solid lighting on the HPS vs LED subject. Anyway as I said just a quick update, here is some photos from lights on today.. They were LST/Monster Cropped and lower growth thinned out last night and are already bouncing back and continuing their growth spurt midway through their flowering stages. At this point I'm unsure if I'm going to both introducing the scrog net or continue with monster cropping and light LST.. I usually just put the scrog net 2' during veg and let them grow into it, not sure how the plants would react to it now.. Any input on scrogging in week 3 flower  anyone? hhaha

[Dust 6,284]

Nice growth since last time man congratz, And yes the LEDs have developped a lot in the last years and are beginning to show great improvment i agree. Do you if that bulb you are using is a digital bulb? If you are using a digital ballast and really want to use it at 100% you need to make sure the bulbs are ,ade for digital ballast which work at diferent frequencies than magnetic ballast. Lumatek does some digital bulbs, one of our member was using the Sunpulse bulbs that were looking amazing but not easy to find where i live. 

Have a good flowering with the ladies man they look on good way already! And be careful with the spraying in flowering  You would not want to have residue on your flower when the smoke time will come Im all in during veg and preflower but once you have the actual buds i dont like it too much personally  

Cheers