Hydro Ebb and Flow, 600w mh lights, how long to veg

Growth was so substantial that I topped everyone on the tray. Had to supercrop two of the tallest. My ballast is starting to act as though it's about to go out so.... just ordered a phantom 600w ballast with the dim selector and the Blockbuster hood with 6 inch vents. I currently have a cool tube with small reflectors but it just isn't cutting it. Not getting the light penetration or coverage necessary to pull off this grow.

Hydro is obviously the way to go, in my eyes anyway. Will start carbo blast next week. I really appreciate that my hydro grow keeps me jumping and moving to keep up. I still can't believe that this is my grow. Now I'm starting to get excited at what the end product will be like!

IlleGal.
And you're only on day 2 or so in flower? Most of the dreaded "stretch" ahead of you. Perhaps now you can understand how sog growers can get away with zero veg.

Bummer about your ballast. But your new one sounds good. Hope it lasts a long time. I'm busy building a grow tent...so the future looks green...
Peace,
JD

JohnDee said:

IlleGal.
And you're only on day 2 or so in flower? Most of the dreaded "stretch" ahead of you. Perhaps now you can understand how sog growers can get away with zero veg.

Bummer about your ballast. But your new one sounds good. Hope it lasts a long time. I'm busy building a grow tent...so the future looks green...
Peace,
JD

Click to expand...

J.D.
Can't even begin to ever thank you enough for all of your assistance during this grow, and you're right it isn't even close to over yet. I appreciate all the advice and research you did to help me out!!! You're the best!

In about 3-4 weeks your gonna be like "holy crap what now" lol. Sounds like your gonna have an amazing grow!!! Well done!

Here are pics from January 14 and then today, January 23. Grow is 4 weeks and five days but only five days into 12/12. Sorry about the second pic, the hps really drowns out the colors, washes it out. I am already thinking ahead and realize that I'll have to bend the two or three tallest to keep them fitting in my grow room. After years of soil grows, I could have never dreamed of what I have on my hands now.

Good morning IlleGal,
Plants look good. Very healthy looking. One thing, and sorry that I didn't notice this earlier. Your lighting situation would be more efficient if you would line the grow area with some white plastic or something reflective. You're losing a bit of light the way it is. Just a little something to put on your "to do" list. No urgency.
Carry on...you're doing great,
JD

Hey Illeg. Great looking grow! Your setup is very similar to mine. Like Waterdawg says -- get ready for the stretch cause you ain't seen nothing yet! It is my second time with the system and I am just amazed at the growth speed... like Superman on steroids!

I am also growin ebb&flo with a 400w HPS and am a few weeks ahead of yours. The only thing I really did different was top each of my plants to make 4 mains on each one. When I changed to 12/12 they were 6-8 inches high. 19 days later they were 33" even after bending them around and trimming out a bunch of lower growth. They were about to try to kiss my light so I ended up scrogging.

12/21 - Switched to 12/12 about 6-8" high


1/9 - 19 days at 12/12. About 33" high. I had to scrog at this point.

Illeg, Most cameras will have a way to adjust the white level. See if yours has a tungsten setting and try that. My camera didn't have the tungsten setting but it did have a white balance setting in programming mode. All I had to do was lay a piece of white paper on top of my plants, then point click and set.. No more yellow. My 2nd photo above was shot under HPS. I hope this helps.

JohnDee said:

Good morning IlleGal,
Plants look good. Very healthy looking. One thing, and sorry that I didn't notice this earlier. Your lighting situation would be more efficient if you would line the grow area with some white plastic or something reflective. You're losing a bit of light the way it is. Just a little something to put on your "to do" list. No urgency.
Carry on...you're doing great,
JD

Click to expand...

Thanks J.D.

Was actually eyeing Mylar sheet the other day, time to get on it!!!! How's your room going???

MuckyDucky said:

Hey Illeg. Great looking grow! Your setup is very similar to mine. Like Waterdawg says -- get ready for the stretch cause you ain't seen nothing yet! It is my second time with the system and I am just amazed at the growth speed... like Superman on steroids!

I am also growin ebb&flo with a 400w HPS and am a few weeks ahead of yours. The only thing I really did different was top each of my plants to make 4 mains on each one. When I changed to 12/12 they were 6-8 inches high. 19 days later they were 33" even after bending them around and trimming out a bunch of lower growth. They were about to try to kiss my light so I ended up scrogging.

12/21 - Switched to 12/12 about 6-8" high
View attachment 2971785

1/9 - 19 days at 12/12. About 33" high. I had to scrog at this point.
View attachment 2971786

Click to expand...

Wow Mucky, outstanding job!!!! What a difference from soil huh??? What strains are you growing. J.D. (who has posted several times on this thread) reminded me early on about my two different strains (white widow and Medusa) and that there may be size differences which would lead to lighting problems, he was right on. At least your grow looks more uniform in height. Good job and big +rep to you!!!

MuckyDucky said:

Illeg, Most cameras will have a way to adjust the white level. See if yours has a tungsten setting and try that. My camera didn't have the tungsten setting but it did have a white balance setting in programming mode. All I had to do was lay a piece of white paper on top of my plants, then point click and set.. No more yellow. My 2nd photo above was shot under HPS. I hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Going to get out a users manual right now. This is a samsung smart phone with all types of settings so thanks for the tip!!!

waterdawg said:

In about 3-4 weeks your gonna be like "holy crap what now" lol. Sounds like your gonna have an amazing grow!!! Well done!

Click to expand...

Saying that already Dawg. Thanks for keeping up with my grow, your input is always appreciated!

Thanks a bunch Illeg. I am learning but I think I must be doing some things right. I grew White Widow from Seedmen on the first run with the ebb&flo. I scrogged them in the middle of stretch. Well, they kept stretching until I finally added another scrog screen to hold them up. I had so many small buds between the 2 screens that I ended up harvesting the tops first, then the lower part a week later. It was a mess and the trimming was really hell.


I am learning but in MHO waiting for the stretch to almost finish in this 2nd grow will give me a much more manageable crop.


Who did you get your White Widow from? As JD pointed out different strains can very a lot in size and when the bud matures so I have been using the same strain. I did do some mixed in soil one time which was entertaining. I got tired of of trying to compare them by puffing from one jar to the next. I really couldn't tell much difference but I was pretty stoned by the time I got to the last jar.

MuckyDucky said:

Thanks a bunch Illeg. I am learning but I think I must be doing some things right. I grew White Widow from Seedmen on the first run with the ebb&flo. I scrogged them in the middle of stretch. Well, they kept stretching until I finally added another scrog screen to hold them up. I had so many small buds between the 2 screens that I ended up harvesting the tops first, then the lower part a week later. It was a mess and the trimming was really hell.


I am learning but in MHO waiting for the stretch to almost finish in this 2nd grow will give me a much more manageable crop.


Who did you get your White Widow from? As JD pointed out different strains can very a lot in size and when the bud matures so I have been using the same strain. I did do some mixed in soil one time which was entertaining. I got tired of of trying to compare them by puffing from one jar to the next. I really couldn't tell much difference but I was pretty stoned by the time I got to the last jar.

Click to expand...

Mucky,

Got the seeds from Nirvana. WW and Medusa. I love white widow and personally know it is a very awesome social strain that keeps you up and running. I also wanted something to chill me out at the end of the day so I picked Medusa which is supposed to be an indica strain. What I find so wierd is that the White Widow (mostly Sativa) is supposed to be tall and the Medusa I though would be short and bushy. WRONG! Matter of fact, just the opposite. Another strain which I really like and has a really long lasting high is Blackjack. Also from Nirvana. Love that Blackjack!

So the problem is now, I'll be cloning and will be going another round with these two strains. I'll pick like sized mother plants and hopefully next grow they will be around the same size. When you mention scrogging you mean keeping a mesh screen over the tops and tying them down right??? I'm still learning as well.

LOL on getting to the last jar. I hope I never reach my last jar again!!! That happened to me last time and when I run out I get moody as shit! So it's grow, grow, grow from now on. I have to laugh cause I look at my grow and I'm like, "How much can a girl smoke??" I build up a tolerance quickly and a lot of my weed gets wasted because of this. On the up side, so do I!!!!

IlleGal,
Actually I believe White Widow is 40%sat/60%indica...but it's all how you respond to it. I had a really lanky sativa leaning WW pheno that was wonderful to grow and smoke. Lost the Momma when I moved but I did make a few crosses with it.

You asked about my project. I have the basic frame roughed in. Next is to build a door, light supports and all the misc. framing before wrapping the whole thing in plastic. So maybe 1/4 done but it's a low intensity project since I won't be able to start a grow till after a family trip in the spring.

I was going to ask you how much room you have between the top of the res and bottom of the tray. If height is going to be an issue each grow, perhaps you could drop the tray to optimise vertical space. Just a thought...
Peace,
JD

Depends on your grow area height and the strains you pick. me I prefer Indicas and I usually grow in 7 goot tall tnets. I take rooted clones in and veg 10 days to 2 weeks to get plants that finish at just under 3 feet tall. In aero I veg 5-7 dyas for plants to finish the same. In aero I flower 5-6 weeks max for full on mature plants in flood table 6-8 weeks max.

Illegalbreather said:

Mucky,

Got the seeds from Nirvana. WW and Medusa. I love white widow and personally know it is a very awesome social strain that keeps you up and running. I also wanted something to chill me out at the end of the day so I picked Medusa which is supposed to be an indica strain. What I find so wierd is that the White Widow (mostly Sativa) is supposed to be tall and the Medusa I though would be short and bushy. WRONG! Matter of fact, just the opposite. Another strain which I really like and has a really long lasting high is Blackjack. Also from Nirvana. Love that Blackjack!

So the problem is now, I'll be cloning and will be going another round with these two strains. I'll pick like sized mother plants and hopefully next grow they will be around the same size. When you mention scrogging you mean keeping a mesh screen over the tops and tying them down right??? I'm still learning as well.

LOL on getting to the last jar. I hope I never reach my last jar again!!! That happened to me last time and when I run out I get moody as shit! So it's grow, grow, grow from now on. I have to laugh cause I look at my grow and I'm like, "How much can a girl smoke??" I build up a tolerance quickly and a lot of my weed gets wasted because of this. On the up side, so do I!!!!

Click to expand...

Hi Illeg,
I forgot to mention I am growing C99 from Female Seeds. It is a popular Sativa dominate hybrid. I can’t wait to try it. It has a wonderful citrus smell and it is really putting on the buds now. They listed the height as medium but mine really liked to grow and stretch. I like the White Widow too.. my favorite to grow and smoke right now. Have you tried a indica strain like Medusa before for chilling out? I think I need a chilout smoke too.
I had to use a combination of Supercropping and Scrogging to control the height after blooming started. To supercrop a stem is pinched(and damaged) enough so the stem can be bent without breaking it. When you Scrog you are basically running your stems sideways either using the screen to hold it down or weaving and tying it to the screen. The following is a link from ICMAG that explains different training methods, https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=104379. I hope ROLLITUP doesn’t mind the external link.

These are some after shots showing after they were supercropped, Scrogged and healed. I will also be updating my grow journal (in my sig below) later today.




Healed.




Isn’t Growing fun! My problem is that I live in a very unfriendly cannabis state. I have been thinking of moving, maybe to Colorado. I am tired of slinking around like some sort of criminal. What is it like in Mass?

Hey Mucky you should try Canada! You know the ones that were very tolerant back a few years ago! Now it mandatory 6 months for 6 plants and i believe a year for >50. Talk about slinking!

waterdawg said:

Hey Mucky you should try Canada! You know the ones that were very tolerant back a few years ago! Now it mandatory 6 months for 6 plants and i believe a year for >50. Talk about slinking!

Click to expand...

Wow! I wonder why they did that? I may have to pack my bags and head to Colorado before the Canadians flood in and get all the good property . That is just as bad as where I am from... Yep.. and I'm slinking so bad I won't even say where..

Few buddies are there now lol. Spent some time there as well. Estes Park for a bit. Nice if you like snow lol.