First ever grow..600w hps scrog + LEDs..GHS Moby Dick & Pure Kush

[Smokeythabear]

UPDATE

Thanks for the advice Dust and Tokage! The bucket idea for watering is a good one And Tokage, I wish I could attach a hose to the tap..my pressurized watering can has both hand pump and hose attachment options, but I'm using R/O water since my house water is softened by the city, and at the house by a water softening system..end result, so much salt I can't even water bamboo with it without it dying lol. So, for now it takes me about 2 hours total to mix nutes and water every 4 days..and they are getting thirstier!

THE FLOWERING HAS BEGUN!! And thanks to Dust and Tokage I know when I can start the countdown I feel like a kid counting down to Christmas...a very green Christmas in August lol.

The 2 pure kushes in the smaller chamber showed pre-flowers on June 22nd, one week after switching them to 12/12. So, they are about 2 weeks into flower and are showing some pretty little tops as you can see in the pictures.

I put the 3 moby dicks and 1 pure kush in the tent into flower by turning off the lights for 36 hrs one week ago on June 30th. I'm happy to say that one week later, 2 of the 3 moby dicks are showing pistils (3rd looks like it will show any day) and the one pure kush in the tent is in pre-flower The giant sprawling in the back right corner is the biggest M.D. She is really stretching and is going to end up taking over a fairly large proportion of the space I think. It's amazing to see all of the bud sites popping up along the larger stems, and all are getting lots of light because of the horizontal training. And right now, there's LOTS of daily training going on to keep the stretch in line! I now understand how much work is involved in scrogging, but I gotta say, it's rewarding and fun to see the results and how the whole process works.

One issue that has come up is temperature. We have been experiencing a heat wave with outside temps from 32-40 degrees Celsius (90 - 104 Fahrenheit). Although my garden is in the basement, which helps with moderating temps, it has still caused my temp in the tent to max out at 31-32 degrees C..(with just LEDS it was max. 26-27, with a heater on lol) a bit high. So far though, the plants have actually responded well with impressive growth. Luckily I have good air movement (an interior oscillating fan that blows on the canopy, a fan on the floor moving air below the canopy, and an inline extraction fan sucking the hot air out), and I'm using CO2 releasing pads that allow for higher temperatures and metabolic rates in the plants. Right now I'm keeping humidity at 50-55%, I will drop it more once they are further into flower. I think investing in a de-humidifier is definitely saving my butt, the plants, and my basement It has a 40 pint reservoir and I'm emptying it about once every 24 - 36 hours.

Anyways, that's enough of my rambling..here are some new pictures taken last night.

Peace and happiness to all!

[Potent]

Awesome dude and your first ever grow... wow! looks pro man you should be proud

Fim for the Win

Hope you have a great grow and looking forward to seeing these ladies flower

Peace

[Bigbrown]

Really beautiful first grow man! *bow*

They look awesome!

I hope they turn out massive man, happy grow!

[Gfarmer]

bro just amazing everything`s looking great, im glad you listened to my advice about comming to this site not because you need the help but because i knew there would be a bunch of people here that would love to see your set up plus its always good to have another good canadian grower on this site to represent but keep up the good work hommie youll be token that sweetness in no time !!!!!!

[Bam-Bhole]

Progressing nicely - keep the plants happy and you will smile too..

Good luck bro !

[Dust]

sweet pipcture for our eyes

Those girls are growinf nicely and starting to slowly fill that net

Keep up the good job man they'll give it back

Have a good grow

[Smokeythabear]

Awesome dude and your first ever grow... wow! looks pro man you should be proud

Fim for the Win

Hope you have a great grow and looking forward to seeing these ladies flower

Peace

Thanks Potent..I've been fortunate to have some good seeds, have had some good luck, and it turns out I'm pretty obsessive when it comes to growing lol! I do a LOT of reading and research..and I've gotten some great advice from all the awesome people on here. As for FIM'ing..being a first timer I was hesitant to try it..and waited until a few weeks ago to try it on each plant..shoulda done it A LOT sooner..the results where I did FIM are awesome..next time

Peace bro

[Smokeythabear]

Really beautiful first grow man! *bow*

They look awesome!

I hope they turn out massive man, happy grow!

Thanks for the support bro! Massive would definitely be nice

[Smokeythabear]

I don´t mind you ranting. You have nice things to rant about

Looks like the only alternative for watering is to get a car battery and a bilge pump(like what they use in boats). Make sure you have a empty container large enugh for the water you need to use. Mix the nutes in that container and then use the bilge pump with car battery. Very easy to store away the battery and it will save alot of time. My friend uses that kind of system. Works like a charm.

The net you have look perfect and will be great. Cant wait to see them mature in to full flowers.

EDIT: The bilge pump is very cheap and with a little handy skills it can be connected to a shower nozzle.

Hahaha thanks Tokage, I tend to go into a lot of detail at times without realizing it until I have a novel typed That's a brilliant idea really..my wife thinks it sounds dangerous lol. I will tell ya, one thing I've realized about growers is that they seem to be able to use large amounts of ingenuity and creativity in order to come up with a HUGE number of solutions to growing problems. Amazing!

[Smokeythabear]

Progressing nicely - keep the plants happy and you will smile too..

Good luck bro !

sweet pipcture for our eyes

Those girls are growinf nicely and starting to slowly fill that net

Keep up the good job man they'll give it back

Have a good grow

Hey I just figured out how to reply to multiple quotes..yay me! I knew there had to be an easier way lol.

Bam and Dust, thanks again for the great support and advice, you guys have been awesome!! I wish I could mail you both samples when it's smoke time bro's..

[Smokeythabear]

bro just amazing everything`s looking great, im glad you listened to my advice about comming to this site not because you need the help but because i knew there would be a bunch of people here that would love to see your set up plus its always good to have another good canadian grower on this site to represent but keep up the good work hommie youll be token that sweetness in no time !!!!!!

Greeno bro..I dunno if I'm a good grower just yet..we will wait for the harvest lol..I don't want to jinx it Seriously though dude..thanks a whole lot for that advice, and the advice since, and the props coming from you bro..big smiles here..thanks man!! And I believe that we are close enough that maybe we will share a smoke from my first crop Can't wait to see your next grow bro!

[Gfarmer]

Greeno bro..I dunno if I'm a good grower just yet..we will wait for the harvest lol..I don't want to jinx it Seriously though dude..thanks a whole lot for that advice, and the advice since, and the props coming from you bro..big smiles here..thanks man!! And I believe that we are close enough that maybe we will share a smoke from my first crop Can't wait to see your next grow bro!

yeah bro i am totally down i live right in toronto on the danforth we should meet up some time i got a bunch of that gws i just did, to be honest like i could talk about growing for hours so it`s cool to find people that are obessive about growing, i have always been on the line of thought that if you have knowledge of how to grow properly thats its best to share that info, my dream is to confince as many people i can that its possible to grow high quality weed at home for a fraction of the price as on the illegal market and a hell of a lot cleaner.

thats why i love this site so much alot of other forums i have been on there`s alot of the judgemental sort of im better then you sort of thing going on, so to have a world wide community of growers that are kind and helpful its really something special. i had a quick question tho for you bro that led you have did you grab it at thc downtown i saw one the other day that looks like the one you have and it was actually pretty cheap i was thinking of picking it up so i was wondering how much yours costed maybe you know a place i can get it cheaper.

[Smokeythabear]

QUESTION: Hey guys hoping someone can advise me..I'm thinking of flushing the plants, it's been 4.5 weeks since they were transplanted into the 23 liter containers, and they are showing what I think are signs of needing a flush..some older lower fan leaves are curling under a bit and feel a bit dry. Having just switched to a 12/12 photoperiod a week ago, and with hormones changing and the stretch happening is this a bad time to flush? My thoughts being that is not giving the plants nutes at this time of rapid growth and change going to hurt them more than help them? I will be using Dutch Nutrient Formula's "Clear" to flush..says it helps correct nutrient deficiencies and I would add CAL-Mag plus to the water..going to use about 18 liters of water for each plant.

Second question..my nutes say to stick with the Gro formula for the first two weeks of flowering cycle, or until buds appear. When they say "buds" how formed do they mean? Like pistils..multiple pistils/pre-flowers..or full on bud tops? I'm a little afraid to switch to bloom too soon and end up with a nitrogen deficiency early on. I have pistils on two plants after a week of 12/12..and pre-flowers/multiple pistils on the two biggest plants.

ANY ADVICE AND THOUGHTS WOULD BE VERY MUCH WELCOME!! THANKS

[Smokeythabear]

yeah bro i am totally down i live right in toronto on the danforth we should meet up some time i got a bunch of that gws i just did, to be honest like i could talk about growing for hours so it`s cool to find people that are obessive about growing, i have always been on the line of thought that if you have knowledge of how to grow properly thats its best to share that info, my dream is to confince as many people i can that its possible to grow high quality weed at home for a fraction of the price as on the illegal market and a hell of a lot cleaner.

thats why i love this site so much alot of other forums i have been on there`s alot of the judgemental sort of im better then you sort of thing going on, so to have a world wide community of growers that are kind and helpful its really something special. i had a quick question tho for you bro that led you have did you grab it at thc downtown i saw one the other day that looks like the one you have and it was actually pretty cheap i was thinking of picking it up so i was wondering how much yours costed maybe you know a place i can get it cheaper.

That's a commendable dream and goal my friend! If only they would just friggin legalize it for everyone, not just medical, and let us all grow a few plants for personal use like they do in Holland I believe, and in a few other countries! I am a sponge for knowledge bro when it comes to this amazing plant..I can't get enough..I wish someone would pay me to devote all of my time to researching and growing it!! A dream I'm sure many of us here share I agree, I love the lack of people on this site trying to "one up" each other. I also agree that sharing knowledge will allow us all to become better growers and hopefully encourage more people to grow..there is power in numbers lol.

As for the LED light, I picked mine up at Homegrown Hydroponics..it's called Glow Panel 45 and it's made by Sunshine Systems ..$139.99 + tax..(website sells it for $149.99..so I did ok) when you figure in how little electricity they use, almost no heat produced, plus not having to change the bulbs for 50,000 hrs which all adds up to money saved and they're a lot greener as a result as well. They seemed to work great for vegging my plants. I've heard that alone, they don't produce quite as tight buds or of as high quality..but then I've heard a few claims that they do. I will see how the buds look from the 2 pure kush in my small chamber to get an idea.

Edited July 11, 2012 by smokeythabear420

[Gfarmer]

hey smokey, i would like to hear others opinions on this but my suggestion would be that flushing would be perfectly fine, the purpose of flushing as i understand it is just to wash away excess salt and particle build up in your medium so what i would suggest would be to take your pot size, say for arguments sake you have a 6 L pot what i would do is run say 8 L`s of pure fresh water through it and then after that is done run another 4 L`s of you normal nutirent soloution or if your concerned of over feeding then your nutirent solution at half strengh that way you have washed away all the excess salt build up and are starting fresh again it is also good to flush with the transistion from veg to bloom.

to be honest i flush once a week and after i flush i just top off like a normal feed and then check the ph of the run off and if i can the ec but i dont have an ec metre and is part of the reason im so vigorous about flushing but like tokage said it depends like if the problem is salt build up, or over feeding if over feeding your gonna wanna flush and vigorusly and thats it, if its just salt build up you wanna wash away and to start your bloom cycle i would suggest flushing then topping off with nutrients but i could be wrong thats just how i do it.

[Smokeythabear]

hey smokey, i would like to hear others opinions on this but my suggestion would be that flushing would be perfectly fine, the purpose of flushing as i understand it is just to wash away excess salt and particle build up in your medium so what i would suggest would be to take your pot size, say for arguments sake you have a 6 L pot what i would do is run say 8 L`s of pure fresh water through it and then after that is done run another 4 L`s of you normal nutirent soloution or if your concerned of over feeding then your nutirent solution at half strengh that way you have washed away all the excess salt build up and are starting fresh again it is also good to flush with the transistion from veg to bloom.

to be honest i flush once a week and after i flush i just top off like a normal feed and then check the ph of the run off and if i can the ec but i dont have an ec metre and is part of the reason im so vigorous about flushing but like tokage said it depends like if the problem is salt build up, or over feeding if over feeding your gonna wanna flush and vigorusly and thats it, if its just salt build up you wanna wash away and to start your bloom cycle i would suggest flushing then topping off with nutrients but i could be wrong thats just how i do it.

Thanks Greeno, that totally makes sense. I am doing it mainly to get rid of salt build up, and after a few hours research I found more info supporting what you say that a good time to flush is when switching from veg to flower..and half strength nutes sounds good too. One thing I did read somewhere was that using a 1/4 strength nute solution to flush or a clearing solution is more effective than plain water because the salts bind to like molecules in the nutes or clearing solution.

I don't know if the clearing solution contains nutes..it says it will help correct nutrient deficiencies. I'm not sure if that means it has some nutes in it..or simply that by correcting nutrient lockout it will allow proper uptake of nutrients added from that point on thus correcting the deficiency? I was hoping the first example lol..hoping the DNF Clear would flush and have enough food to not need to add nutes until the media dried out and it was time to water again..end result being I didn't need as much R/O water or to mix and pH as much water Not trying to be lazy..but it's gonna be a hell of a lot of work flushing with the screen in place..I've removed quite a bit of lower growth but still have to be careful of splashing and burn I'm sure with the Clear. Think I'm gonna mix the Clear and pH the water in two 12 liter buckets, 10 liter batches at a time..then transfer it via funnel in batches to my 8 liter watering can..remove the big round watering head so that only the narrower spout remains..and tilt it sideways and up to pour it into the pots. Wish me luck! lol

Does anyone who uses some sort of flushing/clearing solution when they flush tell me if they also water with nutes immediately after they flush when doing mid-cycle flushes, or is it okay to not add nutes until next water? Greeno I totally understand why you do because you are using plain clear water..so they would need food immediately.

[Dust]

Heyman, you've already had all the advice needed i saw ^^

About the last question, i prefer to give a minimum dose of nutes when i feed if the soil is older than 4 5 week, just to make they eat until next watering, when soil is younger i don't because i suppose there is still enough food, but i might be mistaken ^^

I've tried one of those flush things once and didn't notice any diferent so didn't take it, so i can't tell about that particular thing.

Have a good grow man, give us some pics

[Bam-Bhole]

Well I use Canna Flush in the first and second last 5 litre pot - i flush 6 times 5 litres for a regular big flush - and that really brings out all nutes + salts , you can even soak it up sometimes with the perlite/dirt etc. Just before finishing off I feed the plant just a little extra - not the usual N-P-K feeding but Ripen, molasses , Root Juice or Power Zym - whatever it is the plant I flush needs with the final 5 litres poured slowly....

[Mykol76]

Hello guy, I remember we had a pleasant exchange of ideas in another topic.

I just wanted to remind you that farming is easy, just make the right choice at the right time.

I fully agree with Dust on the fact that you do not have any advantage to make a flush when not required.

Regarding the question that you did, on using the fertilizer for growth, for the first 2 weeks of flowering, or until the appearance of the pistils.:

I think that in doing so, the place to find yourself a deficiency of nitrogen at the end of flowering (which is not a bad sign), you may find yourself with a deficiency of phosphorus / potassium / magnesium, of which the fertilizer for growth do not contain the right quantities to support the plant in flowering time.

But this is only my opinion, of course, do as you see fit.

Until this time you did a very nice job, I hope you continue like this.

I wish you an explosive flowering

[Smokeythabear]

Right on! Lots of great info and suggestions..thanks again friends!! Based on everyone's suggestions, reading, and intuition, I decided to flush. I was thinking I was going to do it tonight, but when I checked the princesses last evening when the lights came on they had a surprise for me...they were very thirsty already! Between the stretch, and the increased temperatures in the tent, they are now needing watering every 3 days at the moment..it had been every 5 even sometimes 6 days between watering's until recently when it became every 4, now 3, and I am sure I will be watering them daily towards the end. Wow..what an incredible plant!

All in all, it took me from about 8:30 last night, until midnight to mix, flush, and train them. Now I know why I pay what I do for premium well loved bud!! lol..I mixed the following:

10 liters R/O water

12.5 ml cal mag plus (hoping this will help give them a bit of food until I water again in 2-3 days)

50 ml DNF "Clear"

approximately 2 ml potassium silicate (to raise pH..and it is supposed to be really good for the plants)

Each plant got 18 liters total flushing solution with a pH of 6. It was all the R/O water I had..and I have about 19-20 liters of soil so I'm hoping this was enough for a mid cycle flush.. For the final flush I will be trying for more total volume of water.

It is interesting how additives react together. The Cal-Mag alone added had the water pH at about 7.5, so did the Clear alone, but mixed together...a pH of about 4.5! Eeek..that is why I had to use the potassium silicate..not something I would normally think would be added to a flush, but I didn't have much choice once I had mixed 20 liters already So far, the flush looks like it did some good. The plants look very healthy this morning, not as much new growth, to be expected as they get lazy after a flush I've read, this makes sense. The leaves have a very healthy feeling to them now, some of the older fan leaves were feeling a bit "crispy", nothing major..and now they feel and look great

I also figured out a way to improve my heat issue. I had my ballast (an older style..should have maybe invested in a digital for less heat) located just outside my tent with the lamp cord fed through a cord opening in the tent. But, this had it located only a foot outside the tent, creating a warmer temp outside the temp with the intake fan drawing the hot air in. I drilled a hole in the wall, un-wired the lamp cord from the ballast, put the ballast in the other room, and re-wired the cord. This resulted in a max temp. of 31 C with lights on, a reduction of 1.5 degrees C If I aim the fan that is on the floor moving air below the canopy at the light I can get the temp down another 1-1.5 degrees C. It's funny how long it took me to figure it out but once I did it makes so much sense lol

Gotta run..peace and happy growing everyone

[Smokeythabear]

Hello guy, I remember we had a pleasant exchange of ideas in another topic.

I just wanted to remind you that farming is easy, just make the right choice at the right time.

I fully agree with Dust on the fact that you do not have any advantage to make a flush when not required.

Regarding the question that you did, on using the fertilizer for growth, for the first 2 weeks of flowering, or until the appearance of the pistils.:

I think that in doing so, the place to find yourself a deficiency of nitrogen at the end of flowering (which is not a bad sign), you may find yourself with a deficiency of phosphorus / potassium / magnesium, of which the fertilizer for growth do not contain the right quantities to support the plant in flowering time.

But this is only my opinion, of course, do as you see fit.

Until this time you did a very nice job, I hope you continue like this.

I wish you an explosive flowering

Hello my friend! Good to hear from you again,..I hope you are well I agree with what you said about nutes..I now have pistils on 2 moby dicks, and preflowers on 1 md and the pure kush and I'm going to hit them with the bloom nutes and additives now. Thanks for the compliment and the support..cheers to explosive flowering!

[Smokeythabear]

Just to let you all know..I also just figured out how the reputation system works yesterday hahahaha..some things just take me more time to figure out than others lol! So there are a bunch of ya who will be getting points as I get caught up on all the posts and help

[Mykol76]

Hello my friend! Good to hear from you again,..I hope you are well I agree with what you said about nutes..I now have pistils on 2 moby dicks, and preflowers on 1 md and the pure kush and I'm going to hit them with the bloom nutes and additives now. Thanks for the compliment and the support..cheers to explosive flowering!

Thanks man, I'm fine, I hope the same for you too.

If your plants drink every three days, this is a good sign.

vai with fertilizer for flowering and I think your plants will be delighted,

but be careful not to overdo it.

have a good continuous growth.

[Smokeythabear]

Thanks mykol Yes I am very happy with how much they are drinking right now, I just wish someone else could do the watering every once and awhile..lol. For bloom nutes and additives I'm using Dutch Nutrient Formula Bloom, DNF Bloom Fortifier, DNF Carbo Logic (sugars), DNF Black and DNF Gold (company says that they both "increase permeability of important micro and macro nutrients and aids beneficial bacteria and fungi reproduction to biologically stimulate plant growth"..they came in the box of nutes with the package), and Advanced Nutrients B-52 (to be used after 2 weeks into flowering otherwise it can reduce stretching).

Well it's been about 36 hours since I flushed the 4 in the tent, and they look very healthy and surprisingly have already recovered from the flush with a good amount of new growth last night I think I've found a decent formula for flushing (for my situation anyways). I need to flush the 2 small ones in the chamber next water..I definitely notice a difference in the plants overall health since I haven't yet flushed those 2 and they've already had one dose of bloom nutes. It definitely makes sense to flush out the old veg. nutes before flowering, thanks Greeno and whoever else mentioned this point

Hope I'm not flooding with pics..it's difficult growing for the first time and not being able to show anyone the results, not like you can say "Hey neighbor, come and check out my garden!" lol. Sorry a few pics aren't totally clear. Here are a few taken this morning after the lights went out..(I use all green bulbs in my basement now) and one LED that turned out okay from last night. The tops on the 2 small pure kushs are nice and fuzzy and are just beautiful to me

Peace and happy growing!

[Dust]

rofl don't worry you ain't flooding with pics, we could even say give us some mooore!!

The girls are looking nice man, not much to say they look healthy ^^

So keep the pics coming

Have a good grow