1000w 4x4 tent- 10 strains organic soil grow

RIU...well here it is, my first RIU grow journal. I've been a member of the site for about a year now, I generally don't post a whole lot and mostly stay to myself unless something strikes my interest or I feel like I can actually help. Recently I've been feeling a bit guilty for not contributing to the community...so now I'm stepping out of my lurker skin and into my active community member clothes.

I could have introduced myself in the "New member" section however I think it's better to do it my journal because if anyone cares they can read it, if not they can just skip straight to the pictures.

A little about me:
I started growing sometime around 2000/2001, prior to this grow I have only worked with hydro, I started with DWC and played around a bit with ebb and flow and a couple other methods, ultimately DWC has always been my favourite since it seems to be the most forgiving of all methods provided that you keep your controls in place.

In 2008 my wife and I moved to Eastern Europe we spent 2 years there and due to living in a Soviet era apartment building and being more than a little paranoid about neighbors turning me in to Poliţia Română and spending the next 15yrs in a cage with only gypsies and mafioso to keep me company I decided that it just wasn't worth it and gave up smoking altogether. Last year we came back to the US and since I laid the guilt trip on the wife about having to spend the last 2 years of my life living in a massively crowded European city sans marijuana she agreed on settling in California on the condition that if I decided to grow and smoke it would have to be organic because she is worried about me inhaling chemicals...before anyone jumps on me, I know that there really is no difference between the salt based nutrients and organic nutes provided that they are used correctly, however you have to keep in mind that my wife grew up on a farm in Communist Europe and they have a bit of different mindset when it comes to using any type of chemical fertilizer or pesticide; they also tend to have a bit of a different mindset when it comes to marijuana or any other kind of drug...that was a whole different (and much longer) discussion though, when I finally convinced her that it was nothing more than a plant she came around and tried it...she smokes every now and then but prefers a shot of Palinca or Tuica to smoking; but since she tried it she is more receptive to my hobby/habit.

Now that I've introduced myself a bit on with the journal...

Weapon of choice for my Saturday Morning:



Good old Jack Herer...always makes for a more productive day...get shit done weed:



It's one of my faves I always try to keep a bit on hand:



Medium: Soil (FFOF/Roots/Perlite/Dolomite) I didn't get too into mixing my own soil this round since it is mostly a test run

Nutrients: Bio-Canna Vega/Flores/Boost
GO CalMg+

Lighting: 1-1000W Lumatek select-a-watt ballast/ 6" Air cooled reflector

Strains: This run was intentionally started with the intention of finding a strain that fits two characteristics, the first being that I have to enjoy smoking it on a daily basis and the second was how well does the strain suit my growing style...I'm a bit stubborn when it comes to working in the garden; rather than completely adapt myself and my environment to the plant I prefer to work with a plant that is already somewhat in tune with my style and works well with me...the reason for this is because I'm in unique conditions, first of all elevation is a bit of a pain in the ass- being that I'm at almost 9,000ft above sea-level it gets pretty dry here and outside night-time temps can drop down to the teens or lower...of course I don't grow outside but since my tents are in the garage it can get a bit chilly at lights out (usually between 52-58f) which has led to a couple new purchases, more on that later.

Here are the strains...they have all been cloned and are currently in the process of interviewing for a spot in the garden: at the moment I am 11 days into bloom:

Blackberry Kush- I'm actually running 5 of her at the moment- I'm seeing good potential in terms of how easy she clones and branch structure

Sour Alien- She's a bit slow at this point with fairly poor branch structure, we'll see what happens but so far not impressed

Space Queen- She looks good so far, nice structure and starting to flower very nicely

Soma #10 (Lavender)- At first I didn't think much of this plant but she coming around and turning out really nice; I think she'll be a definite keeper

XJ-13- Not impressed- looks like a stick just all around doesn't mesh too well with me, but you never know it's still early

Eve Kush- Picked her up on a whim...at this point she isn't top 5

LA Confidential- Strange satty structure, not sure if she is what they said she was...we'll see

Querkle- Cool little strange growing plant, I like her but she grows a bit weird...

OG X Jack- Local seeds...not sure what to expect but figured it was worth a shot- running 3 at 12-12 from seed and will wait and see.

Blueberry Trainwreck- A very nice looking plant and so far looks good

Pictures: I'm not the greatest photographer and the HPS was on so you may need to bear with me a bit:






My blackberry kush...so far she is looking good



Thats it for now...more to come soon

Hey man looks serious. I'm subbed in.. Just starting my first serious grow...

seeing your 4 x 4 makes me wish I would've bought the larger tent.. so much space compared to my 3 x 3 tent.

Awesome, good to see you in here, should be a fun grow...I didn't start the journal until I flipped them to 12/12 because thats when things get the most interesting. I vegged for about a month, all the strains are from clone with the exception of the 3 OG x Jack that were sourced locally...I'm not sure how I feel about the cross yet but we'll see what happens.

Canada...I spent 5 years working for the cruise lines and some of my favourite people to party with were the Canadians, good times.

I just picked up a new tent for mothers; I'll run a small 250 in there and it will vent into my flower room to warm the air a bit when lights are out...it gets cold here this high up on the mountains...anyways (edibles I ate are starting to kick in)...for some reason when I was reading the description I didn't really pay attention to the measurements, it came yesterday and I set it up...it's 36" long, 20" wide and 60" high...it is one tiny ass tent sitting next to the 4x4...but I guess that it will serve it's purpose, I'll probably buy a bigger one soon if I can justify using up the space with the wife.

Ok time for bed...definitely some strong muffins...

What I'm smoking at the moment:
Fruit Loop



Goodnight...

Thanks!

If you want to win over Canadians affections just blow smoke up our ass! we love to be praised about how nice we are etc etc



You got some serious heights for vegging over a month! Are they Sativa dominants? The plants I'm growing are close to 100% Indica (Black Domina x Golden Skunk) and its my first time but they are tiny compared to yours! I just switched mine over to flower yesterday so I'm interested to see how they turn out.

Makes me want to upgrade my 400w to a 600w

I hear you about the cold. I've been having issues with that in my basement.. -10 here today.. which probably translates to around 0 F interested in seeing the updates!

Yeah they went a bit crazy for awhile there, when I originally started from clone they were about 8cm, I vegged under CFL for about 3 weeks and then tossed them under a 600hps which I think caused them to stretch a bit more than what I had originally wanted.

At first I wanted to run only Indicas so I acquired my Blackberry Kush Mother, then I went on this weed buying trip and every time I would smoke something I liked I would make a mad dash to try and find the clone...I easily covered about 200 miles trying to find the clones I wanted...one of the great things about California is the availability of clones...where I live probably 75-80% of the town is running some sort of show in their house. I recently started really liking satty dom buds so I put a few in there since I only grow for my personal consumption.

Black Domina x xGolden skunk...That's a cut that I would definitely like to run sometime. Just checked out your journal and they look nice...you'll be very happy that are so compact soon...I am already anticipating over-growing my tent.

With my ballast I wasn't sure what the 4x4 would handle...at first I planned on 600 thinking that a 1000 would heat up too much...once I got my ventilation in place I flipped it on and ran it for 12 hours and I never went over 80f...mostly because it's winter though, in the summer I think that I will need to dial it back a bit, I bought a lumatek with the select-a-watt feature so that I could take it back to 750 or 600 if I started having too many issues. I have read lots of bad stuff about Lumatek so I was hesitant but so far it's been running perfectly. I learned long ago that bigger is better because stepping down is a bit cheaper than stepping up...especially with new tech where they have selectable ballast that essentially becomes 3 different ballasts.

Well just woke up and time for coffee...lights are on at 6pm PST so I'll post up some new pics tonight...I just added in some CalMg+ and gave them their first shot of Bio-boost so we'll see if it's actually worth the $80 a liter that it sells for.

Currently smoking on:
Nothing, no wake and bake this morning, it's coffee and a Marlboro until noon.

benign said:

Yeah they went a bit crazy for awhile there, when I originally started from clone they were about 8cm, I vegged under CFL for about 3 weeks and then tossed them under a 600hps which I think caused them to stretch a bit more than what I had originally wanted.

At first I wanted to run only Indicas so I acquired my Blackberry Kush Mother, then I went on this weed buying trip and every time I would smoke something I liked I would make a mad dash to try and find the clone...I easily covered about 200 miles trying to find the clones I wanted...one of the great things about California is the availability of clones...where I live probably 75-80% of the town is running some sort of show in their house. I recently started really liking satty dom buds so I put a few in there since I only grow for my personal consumption.

Black Domina x xGolden skunk...That's a cut that I would definitely like to run sometime. Just checked out your journal and they look nice...you'll be very happy that are so compact soon...I am already anticipating over-growing my tent.

With my ballast I wasn't sure what the 4x4 would handle...at first I planned on 600 thinking that a 1000 would heat up too much...once I got my ventilation in place I flipped it on and ran it for 12 hours and I never went over 80f...mostly because it's winter though, in the summer I think that I will need to dial it back a bit, I bought a lumatek with the select-a-watt feature so that I could take it back to 750 or 600 if I started having too many issues. I have read lots of bad stuff about Lumatek so I was hesitant but so far it's been running perfectly. I learned long ago that bigger is better because stepping down is a bit cheaper than stepping up...especially with new tech where they have selectable ballast that essentially becomes 3 different ballasts.

Well just woke up and time for coffee...lights are on at 6pm PST so I'll post up some new pics tonight...I just added in some CalMg+ and gave them their first shot of Bio-boost so we'll see if it's actually worth the $80 a liter that it sells for.

Currently smoking on:
Nothing, no wake and bake this morning, it's coffee and a Marlboro until noon.

Click to expand...

Wish I was in Cali.. you guys are so much more progressive than Canada as far as MJ goes....

As far as light goes from what little I know I would definitely want a 1000 watter.. that should put out about 60Watts per square foot which is a nice number... 600watts might be too small.

I read a lot about the lumateks as that is what I have... I had a magnetic 250W ballast and as soon as I got my tent I felt I need something bigger... I'm now running it as my vegging area under my stairs.. not ideal but it works for now. I found a good deal from a guy selling a lot of equipment second hand on kijiji that I couldn't pass up. 400w lumatek ballast. 2 x MH bulbs and 2x hps bulbs (he said he only used one of each for one grow cycle of 3-4 months the others are apparently brand new never used) and an 8" AC sealed hood for $200 I figured the cost of the hood and bulbs alone made that a good deal and took a risk on the ballast.

However after doing a lot of reading from many sources online I found out that apparently the new generation lumateks have solved their issues and most of the issues were only with people running hortilux bulbs on the older generation ballasts. I have the older generation ballast but apparently only the 600w and 1000w had a lot of the issues that you read about.

If you have the select a watt feature you should have the new generation ballast and apparently there are no major issues with those

What is the bio-boost? (a root stimulator?) I'm a total noob and am using the GH Organics line

Yeah bio-boost is from BioCanna...all veganic really good nutrients, but expensive...This is my first venture into Organics and I like to keep things as simple as possible so the BioCanna line seemed to be perfect I use the Bio-Vega for veg and Bio-Flores and Bio-boost for flowering...I do use GO CalMg+ though, I'm not sure if BioCanna makes a Cal-Mg supplement but this one was easy and seems pretty good for the money.

According to the manufacturer this is what they say about Bio-boost:

The bioactive substances result in an extra metabolism, which is exactly what the plant needs during the blooming period. The plants produce more fructose, become healthier and stronger and are less vulnerable to diseases and plagues. The result is a higher yield with a strong, exuberant and vigorous fructification. They say it isn't an actual nutrient but a metabolism booster...

I'm not sure if this is BS or not but so far it seems like good stuff...I was actually debating on purchasing the GO line, I contacted their reps and tried to get some samples but I guess they weren't giving out samples so I went with the company that actually went ahead and sent me something, generally if a company sends me something I will buy something from them just so I feel better about asking for free stuff...unless it is an absolute crap product which I haven't encountered yet...generally I do a little research and only request products that I will actually use so it's not a waste of time.

The ability to grow somewhat legally in California is the only reason I moved here, sounds strange but I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to not have to worry about local cops busting in your door (my town is less than 20k people so most of the locals know each other) also being able to find good genetics is nice too...it's amazing though the other day I was driving down the street with a QP in my passenger seat (in a paper bag of course) with no stress whatsoever, in the past I hated driving with weed on me but now since I'm legal (according to California at least) I have absolutely no worries.

Like many others on here I really want to learn tissue propagation, that way we could send genetics around the world in very small package...but that's a ways off.

No Supercropping? I guess since you have so many plants you don't need to do it on every plant but on your favorite it would be nice to have a little extra bud. Looking good though, subbed.

Hey Tricker welcome....no supercropping, topping or LST on this run, since this is sort of a test run I wanted to see them naturally to get an idea of the branch structure...that and I was feeling a bit lazy this grow...I just don't feel like such a lazy piece of shit if I use the other explanation

I'm running 5 of my Blackberry Kushes right now, she was my first mother plant so I took a bunch of clones off her to run at the same time...hopefully she'll be a winner, would be a shame to have to kill off my 3'+ mother. But no sense in keeping her if she doesn't do what I want.

benign said:

Yeah bio-boost is from BioCanna...all veganic really good nutrients, but expensive...This is my first venture into Organics and I like to keep things as simple as possible so the BioCanna line seemed to be perfect I use the Bio-Vega for veg and Bio-Flores and Bio-boost for flowering...I do use GO CalMg+ though, I'm not sure if BioCanna makes a Cal-Mg supplement but this one was easy and seems pretty good for the money.

According to the manufacturer this is what they say about Bio-boost:

The bioactive substances result in an extra metabolism, which is exactly what the plant needs during the blooming period. The plants produce more fructose, become healthier and stronger and are less vulnerable to diseases and plagues. The result is a higher yield with a strong, exuberant and vigorous fructification. They say it isn't an actual nutrient but a metabolism booster...

I'm not sure if this is BS or not but so far it seems like good stuff...I was actually debating on purchasing the GO line, I contacted their reps and tried to get some samples but I guess they weren't giving out samples so I went with the company that actually went ahead and sent me something, generally if a company sends me something I will buy something from them just so I feel better about asking for free stuff...unless it is an absolute crap product which I haven't encountered yet...generally I do a little research and only request products that I will actually use so it's not a waste of time.

The ability to grow somewhat legally in California is the only reason I moved here, sounds strange but I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to not have to worry about local cops busting in your door (my town is less than 20k people so most of the locals know each other) also being able to find good genetics is nice too...it's amazing though the other day I was driving down the street with a QP in my passenger seat (in a paper bag of course) with no stress whatsoever, in the past I hated driving with weed on me but now since I'm legal (according to California at least) I have absolutely no worries.

Like many others on here I really want to learn tissue propagation, that way we could send genetics around the world in very small package...but that's a ways off.

Click to expand...

So the Bio-Boost is like a Bloom booster, I'm guessing. I've heard they are worth the money whatever line you are using. I have everything in the GO line except that.. going to have to pick it up next week and give it with a feeding.

Tissue propagation?! I'll have to google that. Sounds crazy!

Yeah we've had 8 years of Conservative gov'ts here in Canada so any progression we were making on the legalization issue is gone (in fact we are actually moving backwards now!). There was a bill to decriminalize about 8 years ago but it fell apart due to an election call

It's been a good day...just picked up a new in the box Global Greenhouse 600w intelli volt ballast for $53.00 on ebay....25.00 for shipping is a bit of a rip-off but for a total price of 78.00 it's pretty tough to beat...now I just need to figure out where to put it...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320813413030?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

No pics tonight unfortunately...not a whole lot new in the tent...I'll post some more up tomorrow.

[video=youtube_share;rIqHFUNfnAk]http://youtu.be/rIqHFUNfnAk[/video]

I hate Mondays...stuck at work in the office...I really just want to get home to the plants...a little Beck always makes me feel a bit better...Que Onda Guero

Just checking to see if my sig is working.

Ok a small little update...unfortunately no pics at the moment because I'm a lazy ass pot head and forgot to download them from my camera last night; I try not to upload my pics via my company computer at work, they tend to frown on MMJ growers where I work.

So on to the update. I started the flip on 12/5/2011 so today is day 16 of flower, they are starting to show nice little clusters along the stem and branches, everything is looking as it should at this point. Using a bit of CalMg+ seemed to work wonders, I started to see the deficiency right after the flip but put off buying it for about 2 weeks; I tend to procrastinate when it comes to minor matters.

Hopefully tonight I'll be able to post some pics, lately for some strange reason I've been on an equipment buying binge, I'll review a few things here since my regular update is a bit screwed up without the pics.

First item I picked up was a tent, I currently use a 4x4x6.5 but I wanted something a bit smaller for mother plants and clones so I went to ebay and made an offer on a 60x36x20 GRN Elements tent, I offered 79.00 with free shipping and the offer was accepted.


Here is the tent ^^ It arrived at my house in 1 day (super fast shipping) when I initially opened the box I was a bit disappointed, unlike my other tents instead of being 1 piece construction this one was in 4 pieces, the back and sides are velcro instead of zippers, it is good quality though and feels pretty sturdy, if I want I can always run some Gorilla Tape along the seams of the velcro to better light proof it, but since I bought it for Mothers and Clones I'm not too worried about it. It is very small though and I'm not completely thrilled with only having 20 inches of depth in there...if you buy one of these make sure you get a taller one...60 inches of headroom when you include the reflector and pot is not all that much room.

Next...Well I have the tent so obviously I need to buy a new light...initially I was going to go with a 250w Halide, in that small of a space it should do the job satisfactorily, but then I saw this:

Global Greenhouse 600w HPS/MH Intellivolt, new...when I initially saw the listing it was at 25.00 with 25.00 in shipping so I said screw it and I put in a snipe bid for $60 thinking that I would for sure get outbid...but I guess that it was meant to be mine because I won it for 53 with 25 shipping, so a brand new 600w ballast for 78.00...a very nice addition to my collection.

Well now since I got the 600w ballast and the tent I need a way to cool it...which brings up the next new piece of equipment:


MTN Gearsmith (no idea about the company) 6" inline fan I'm not sure how good it is, but I won it for 31.07 with 24.95 shipping so 58.00 for a 6 inch fan is definitely worth a shot.

Now I am looking for a hood, I hate cooltubes but running a 600 in that little tent I think may be the only way to go...maybe I'll find one cheap.

Good job on the deals. Looks like you have everything running really well. Here a cheap hood you may be interested in - it's a straight tube design so it cools just as well as a cool tube but reflects much better over a smaller area like that tent - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Virtual-Sun-VSGC6000-6-Grow-Light-Lamp-Enclosed-Reflector-Hood-1000W-600W-400W-/200680324212?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb97abc74

Fellow organic 4x4 grower here subbed.

Awesome...thanks Gastanker. 90 with free shipping is a really nice deal. I'm subscribing to your UV thread right now, I've been thinking of rigging up something similar to what you got...I just found a couple of vintage sun tanning lights that seem like they would be fun to play with...I wonder if I could find a cheap tanning bed...

Gastanker said:

Good job on the deals. Looks like you have everything running really well. Here a cheap hood you may be interested in - it's a straight tube design so it cools just as well as a cool tube but reflects much better over a smaller area like that tent - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Virtual-Sun-VSGC6000-6-Grow-Light-Lamp-Enclosed-Reflector-Hood-1000W-600W-400W-/200680324212?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb97abc74

Fellow organic 4x4 grower here subbed.

Click to expand...

I've got a similar hood and love it for the light distribution and it runs really cool.. I have my little 4" fan turned all the way down on a fan controller (originally rated at 177 cfms but its probably only doing about 30-60 cfm now with the control dialed down) and the glass on my AC hood I can touch and hold the back of my hand against it with no discomfort at all.

@benign: Nice job on all the deals! Especially the tent!

I would mind another small tent but my issue is height. I live in an old house downtown and the ceiling height is 68-70 inches. With most tents being 6" tall they don't work for me

Well I've been promising pics for a couple days now and keep getting sidetracked...so today I am adding a bunch. Everyone in the tent is flowering nicely, the only real change I made was adding in Bio-Boost; at first I wasn't going to use it (mostly due to cost $100 a liter is a bit steep) but then I found 250ml bottles for $23 and decided that I would go ahead and give it a shot, so far it seems like a pretty good product, it's not a nutrient but a metabolism stimulator according to the manufacturer but after 2 waterings with it I think that next run I'll go ahead and give up my cheap ways and buy a liter.

On to the pics...recently I corrected a Cal/MG issue so there are a few yellow leaves here and there but I think that I solved the original issue.





And of course my little pot head mutt...I would never intentionally get my dog stoned but this one goes out of her way to make sure that as soon I set the bong or pipe down she is nearby and can get a nice whiff of the smoke coming out of the bowl, then she usually grabs her food bowl and passes out on the couch...stereotypical pot head.

Lookin good and cute pup.

Thanks Gas...she's great, rescued her from a shelter a couple months ago and she seems to fit right into the family...had to get the wife a dog; it was either a dog or kids...I chose the dog, at least she poops outside and doesn't mind staying home alone (the dog...not the wife).

Hey Ottawa, 68-70" roof..wow, I would have a permanent headache with ceilings that low, when I lived in Bucharest we lived in an old communist apartment building in sector 6 the area iscalled Drumul Taberei...anyways at that place the roofs were about 6' which is still fairly low for a ceiling, I'm just under 6' feet tall so it was weird to walk around with my head almost hitting the ceiling...luckily at my current house we have 25' vaulted ceilings, huge difference.

So my new 6" fan came last night, really fast shipping took like 2 days to get here, this fan is a beast nice and big with a ton of air movement, I'm looking forward to re-working my ducting to accommodate the new fan. In this run I have 3 plants that I've been flowering from seed for about 18 days now, they are from a local pollen chucker who crossed OG Kush with Jack...one of them just started showing some male flowers, I was going to just cull the plant but I know that some have been looking for pollen, so if anyone wants it let me know and I'll cut off his balls and send it your way...I have no idea how the strain is or if it's even worth keeping but if someone wants it send me a PM and I'll get it to you.