Gotta Crawl Before You Walk!

[Tahcoe]

1/12/2020 11:00 A.M.

Hi everyone,

Setting up!! We are finally a medical state and have our licenses to cultivate our meds. (husband and wife combo here both licensed so we can have total of 12 flowering, 12 clones, 12 seedlings-- eventually)

1st Time Growing- these are the 2 strains we will be attempting.

Purple Crash (Sundae Driver x Purple Punch)

Cannabis Type: 50% Indica , 50% Sativa

Flowering Length says 60-70 days

Finishing Height Medium

Lineage – Grape Stomper, Green Ribbon, Alien Kush, Cherry Pie, Grandaddy Purple, Grape pie, Tahoe OG Kush

Aroma -Berry, Tropical

Flavor- Grape Juice, Tart Cherries

Purple Cake (Purple Punch x Wedding Cake)

Lineage- Animal Mints, Girl Scout Cookies, Grandaddy Purple, Larry OG, OG Kush, Triangle Kush

Cannabis Type- Indica 50%, Sativa 50%

Flowering Length 56-70 days

Aroma- Fruity, Soda, Grape

Flavor- Sugar, Cake, Lemon

Equipment Bought -

Grow Tent- 9'x4'x6'6" total – 2 in 1 -main room 8’x4’x6’6” and clone/ seedling room is 1’x4’x6’6” ( it's winter and in basement so our temps outside of tent run around 60 for intake and inside tent I’m trying to adjust temps to stabilize now.) (so far running 71 or 72 inside with all fans and duct fan going)

4 5 gallon bucket DWC hydro system has only 1 air stone per bucket (not sure if enough oxygen)

Planning 4 to flower and try to clone a few while veg is going on. (we are going to be starting from seeds fyi and should arrive shortly)

6” 440 CFM Inline Duct Fan and 6” x 18” Carbon Filter

good brand DC Series 2000w Led, Dual Chip with Veg & Bloom switches for blues, and full spectrum (1 for now)

2 small 6” clip fans

General Hydroponics Flora Grow Nutrients

General Hydroponics PH Control

PPM and PH Meters

Digital Therm, Hydro meters

Trellis for when it’s time

Clay pellets and Rockwool



Pics below are of strains and setup so far, adjustments will be made as needed!

Thanks for joining and happy growing,

Tahcoe

 

[Old Salt]

You may want to consider tomato cages or plant stakes rather than a trellis in your tent. You'll need to be able to reach all of the plant for maintenance. A trellis locks them in place, while the tomato cages and plant stakes will let you move the plants around. This is important for training and pruning your plants.

That light will probably not meet your expectations. It draws 390W from the wall, and if it were a top of the line light be good for about 13 sq ft of canopy. I have one by the same manufacturer, their 1800W Dimmable COB. At full intensity, it draws 315W from the wall. It was not enough for a 2' x 4' tent. I had four plants in the tent. My harvests were poor, and the two outside plants produced 40% less than the two closer to the center of the light. With a better light, I more than doubled my harvests. Check our sponsors. For the price you paid, you can get much better lights. Here's a couple of pictures to show what I mean:

1800W COB, 2' x 4' Tent, Day of Harvest

Left: DIY 8 COB Array (2' x 4' Tent), Right Mars Hydro TSW-2000 (40" x 40" Tent)

Plant Out of the Tent With Mars Hydro TSW-2000​

The harvest from the first image was 141gm or 5oz. The second harvest from that setup was 180gm or 6.4oz. My last harvest from the tent on the left was 440gm or 15.7oz. The tent on the right is a new setup, and I'll be harvesting in about 3-4 weeks. The last image was taken two weeks ago. The plant is over 48" wide, and 42" tall (from soil level). What I find interesting is all of the lights draw 315W from the wall.

My costs for the lights were:
$259 USD - 1800W Dimmable COB
$249 USD - Mars Hydro TSW-2000 (I won this in a contest, price is for comparison)
$560 USD - DIY 8 COB Array (parts cost)

Edit: I don't want to put a damper on your enthusiasm. You will probably want to replace that light sooner or later. At this time you may still be in the return period offered through Amazon and the vendor.

 

[Tahcoe]

First off thanks for the input. So is my bestva light good for anything. Vegging, cloning, something lol.
I will have a few weeks before I need to buy a bloom light then so I'll try to before it buds.

 

[Old Salt]

You could use it for veg, and to flower in a much smaller area than the manufacturer states. You'll probably find the flowering footprint to be less than 2' x 4'.

 

[Gardener022]

I would love to have that grow tent, can it be partitioned. you know one side for veg, one for flower. Get a good air pump to support those four 5 gallon buckets DWC likes plenty of oxygen, get the 2" by 4" large air stones. You can also get a couple more buckets when you change out nutrients and maintenance, or you might decide to use a pump what ever you decide. Try to make things easy on yourself. Trust me I know. Utilize all that good space and keep good safety and keep all electrical off the floor. I think you are going to love DWC.

 

[Tahcoe]

Awesome thanks,
Ya I love the tent also. No partition other then clone and seedling section. But what I do like is it will unzip all the way around to expose all sides of the flowering part. Or it has a smaller door to just step into it. And good idea on the extra few buckets to swap nutrients faster. I was only thinking of using one extra to mix in. I think having a few on hand will be better. The stones I was definitely wondering about. Pump seems ok for now but will probably upgrade. At least this one is quiet.

 

[Tahcoe]

Well, after attempting to just pop a few seeds to get started. 3 of the 4 got root rot I think before the 1st pair of true leaves took off. This girl is my only survivor. I name her groot regardless of sex. I also did learn a small lesson from rockwool. I was pulled in different directions on what I read and failed to drain the rockwool for a bit before planting. Drowned 3. At least now I have 1 into its forever home and seems to enjoy the light and nutrients. I'm starting to soak 2 more seeds now and hope I can somehow veg and learn to clone so I can maybe I can bloom a few I stead of 1. Hopefully by end of next weekend groot will really take off.

Happy growing!
Tahcoe

 

[Tahcoe]

1/25/2020



It would be 2 weeks tomorrow since my first post about starting this grow journal. I have to say I thought it would be easier than it has gone. Although Groot is doing fine, I have lost 6 little ones along the way by trying a few different ways to start my seeds. The first 4 I take complete responsibility as I did not let the rockwool drain before inserting the seed thus they drowned very quickly and the 2 that did come up received root rot within what seemed like minutes (insert laughter). I always have soaked the seed until the taproot popped and usually planted at around ¼” or so. I have tried tap root up and down that didn’t make a difference in the seed making it up out of the rockwool. I have then tried using a white led light and I also have left them in the dark. Either one worked but putting the seed directly under the led had them out of the soil the fastest for me. I used the seed / clone side of the tent with a heat lamp in the bottom section to keep the temperature at 76 to 80 degrees. Humidity wasn’t to much of a factor since I kept them under cover with the humidity dome I call it. I lost the latest 2 seedlings due to; I can only guess my impatience of taking them straight into the big boy side with the light being way to close since Groot has to have mucho grande light. So with that being said I think I now will follow all the rules leading to the seedling popping out of the soil so quick and just leave the damn thing alone in the small side until it has a few sets of leaves and stronger (duh right).

On to Groot now at roughly 15days since seed. Groot has been doing great in my opinion and fortunately for me I have nothing to compare Groot to as it’s my first real grow (again insert laughter here). I’m doing my best to keep temps at or around 76 degrees and humidity at or around 45% to 55% cause it’s winter here and my basement gets down to the 50’s at night. So far the low in the tent when lights go off for 6hrs only hit 63 which hopefully isn’t stunting any growth to bad. The nutrients I have been scared to up to much so there around 600 to 650 ppm. I’m assuming and hoping someone will tell me to go ahead and up the nutrients to about 800 or 900 ppm but I don’t want to lose the time I have with Groot now. The ph I have kept as close to 5.5 range to 5.8 as possible but the damn water keeps jumping into the low 6 ph range. With all the being said I have kept the light very close and on full spectrum the entire time. No burning or changes have been seen with how the light has been set. Everything seems to be going pretty well and the first 2 or 3 long roots have emerged and reach the bottom of the DWC bucket. Groot has a few sets of leaves going well and some sets growing off the main stem at the bottom. All in all this is pretty damn cool and I see why all of you growers enjoy doing what you do. I have attached some pics I literally just took since the light came on at 7:00 am Central time. Lastly I am soaking another seed and will hopefully have success. Groot is still the only Purple Crash that made it out alive of the first pack. The seed soaking now is Purple Cake. I’m just hoping to get 2 nice plants and then learn to clone them. So when is the time to take cuttlings from the vegetative state of any plant.



Ps. The smaller Groot pic is from the 19th of January



Happy Growing,

Tahcoe

 

[Tahcoe]

Hopefully I'm not typing to much per post. Was easier to type a week vs every other day!

 

[Nicholas Flamel]

Nice setup and great start. Yout well on your way to a successful harvest. Starting a journal will really be a benefit since it's your first grow. I am Groooooooooooot!
Btw u can make post as long as u want. Not an issue

 

[Tahcoe]

Nice setup and great start. Yout well on your way to a successful harvest. Starting a journal will really be a benefit since it's your first grow. I am Groooooooooooot!
Btw u can make post as long as u want. Not an issue

Appreciate the kind words! Looking forward to this site as well as all the collaboration from everyone. It's nice to see others helping others so much.

 

[Tahcoe]

Just realized I am about to change nutrients etc... for the first time. Any tips etc... I was running around 600ppm and 5.8ph tonight. Is it ok to go to 850 being it's in veg stage or or 1000 ppm. What is to much or to little?

 

[Old Salt]

Since I used drain-to-waste hydroponics this chart I made for my last grow should be close:

You can click on the image to see it full size,

I used RO water.

I didn't measure the TDS/EC as this does not change for the life of a batch of nutrients. To get the TDS you'll need to mix up a batch.

For DWC you'll need to add Z7 or hydroguard to your nutrient solutions.

 

[Tahcoe]

Ok this should work. If I'm reading this right then I should stick with what nutrients I have at 650ppm for another week. Then I should be in aggressive veg and can move to around 800ppm. Then flower at 1000ppm to 1200ppm

 

[Tahcoe]

A difference of just 2 days. Wow I didnt know they grow this quick. Look at the under leaves.

 

[Tahcoe]

1/28/2020



Just dropping a quick post to express how happy I’m getting watching groot grow like a “weed” lol.

Couple pics are even different in just a few days. If anyone has a little time to respond, when should I try and clone and cuttlings off of this plant. I'm hoping to try a few to not start from seed again quite so soon.



Happy Growing,

Tahcoe

 

[Old Salt]

A little inspiration:

 

[Tahcoe]

A little inspiration:

I love it. That's awesome

 

[Fastass419]

A little inspiration:

I love those pots there are cool as hell

 

[Old Salt]

They are accessories for the contest photo I shot last week. The Baby Groots are available at the online malls if you are interested.