Alpha Prime
Member
Hello All. I am starting this grow journal kinda late in the grow but I wanted it recorded so on the next grow and all the grows to come I can look back and see what I did wrong, what I did right, and what I could've done better. I have read many other grow journals on this forum as well as other site's forums and I have to say the journey from seedling/clone to finished cured product is nothing less than inspiring. I also wish to inspire other people and be further guided by any and all critism, positive and negative because both are constructive. So please don't hold back, talk as much shit as you can about whatever I'm doing wrong, let me know what looks good, and bounce some ideas around cuz I'm trying to do some different techniques and experiment to get the best of the best. And yes, I've heard that you shouldn't experiment with bud, just leave it as it is, but I will scarafice my entire crop just to find the answer to a question, everything in life is risk and if the best breeders of our time didn't take a chance in changing something, we'd all be eating/smoking stress or weak chronic instead of the great OGs and various Kush.
Having said that, I have already gone through 3 different unsuccessful crops that failed due to my inexperience. The 1st was a soil grow, it was going great for about 2 months. Right when it got to flowering time, I had completely forgotten to manage the pH of the soil and before I knew it nearly all my plants were dead. The few that survived grew weak and soon died after I tried to add a buffer to the soil to raise the pH it was a short-cut quick fix and it back fired. Lesson: have some way to manage pH, and nutrient level. Trial #2 after having learning from Trial 1 I built a top feed drip system with vermiculite/perlite. I had GREAT clones from Oaksterdam mostly, but again I failed. I learned 100% the hard way that early on, you can't put clones under HID lighting. The majority of mine were under a 400w HPS and I couldn't understand why the plants under the HPS weren't growing more than 1/4th inch per day and the plants under my CFLs were growing 1/2-1 inch per day. I figured it out too late after coming online and doing some research. The clones under the 400w wilted, which was about 75% of what I had. The others got spidermites and any grower knows the frustration of spidermites, after losing so much I mixed more organic insecticide than the label said I should and ended up killing off the rest of my babies. Lesson: start slow, read directions. Trial 3, my most recent trial was undertaken under the same conditions I have right now, with 1 fatal mistake. Due to my car breaking down, I had to put all my money into fixing it (instead of buying nutrients after I had run out). Starting off, I bought quarts of everything. When I ran out of nutes because I didnt have money to buy more, I used some Miracle Grow I had. Although I kept the pH between 5.0-6.0., using MG for fogponics as I've already stated, failed. Lesson from this grow: have everything you need beforehand.
So here's my set-up: I have 2 closets that I am currently vegging in. So lets talk hardware. In the main vegging closet, I have 2-30gal Resivoirs that I made using te fogponics system. 3 Ultrasonic Foggers run for 3-6 hours and are turned off for 1-4 hours in each rez. There are about 21 gallons of water in these rezs (plural of rez?), along with an airstone tube thing thats bendable & is the best airtube I've ever seen or used hooked up to a 20w commercial air pump. Bricks hold up the foggers and keep them at the right level to fog the roots evenly, and I have taken a lot of time to make sure they do not leech into the water. My lights are CFLs that vary between 100w, 125w, & 150w equivalents. I've also got 20w flouros over my 2 rezs. I definitely need more fans, which are coming soon. The "software" I'm using is Fox Farms Grow Big, General Organics Bio Root, General Organics Bio Weed, Vitamin B, & Superthrive. I started the nutrients at half strength but have now gone to full blast.
In my other closet, I have soil plants which I am taking clones from. These I don't really care about (because they are in soil), I'm just going to take as many clones as I can from them and then flower them once I have taken all that I can.
These pictures are about a week old, so there are a few changes between the soil plants and the hydro plants, such as size (from either growth or cutting for clones), as well as the number of plants.
And now, for the plants
To make sure I get as many choices as possible and to determine which is best of all, 2nd best, 3rd and so on, I've gotten a very big mix of genetics. I'm thinking I'm missing a few strains due to my short term memory (I'm not at my house right now) but here's the jist of it:
The Players:
2 Blueberry
1 AK47
1 OG
1 Crimea Blue
1 Super Lemon Haze
1 MK-Ultra
1 Matsunda Thunderfuck
The All-Stars:
1 AK47
2 Tahoe OG
1 OG
1 Blue Cheese
1 White Widow
1 LSD
1 LA OG x Purple Kush
1 Bubba Kush
1 Cataract Kush
Dirt Mothers:
1 Trainwreck x LA Confidential
1 Trainwreck x Jack Herer
1 God's Gift
1 Celestial Temple Sativa
1 Mr. Nice
1 Powerplant
2 Blueberry
I've already taken cuts of all the dirt mothers except for Mr. Nice. These cuts were taken after the pictures were taken, so my aero cloner looks empty but it is now full of what I hope will be the next generation of my grow. All of the "Players" will be flowered this grow, and I was thinking of throwing some of the clones I am currently cloning into flowering as soon as they get roots. My All-Stars I'm planning to grow out a little larger, keep them as mothers and take cuttings for a SOG for my 2nd grow. These all have grown faster roots and shoots but I suppose the true test will be which ones flower more and that will be what I grow for my 3rd grow.
And now for my Challenges. I have spidermites that I spray with Neem II (not pictured). It works great except I don't think it kills the eggs cuz after a while they come back strong. I also have root aphids which I was VERY surprised to see (I didn't know they could live on and eat roots). I'm going to buy a dip for the spidermites soon, but for now I am just spraying the Neem II. For the aphids, I've been killing them with my fingers but I was thinking of taking the foggers out for about 2 days and just filling the rezs up completely to drown them out and then depending on if it works well just leaving it like that and using the foggers for something else.
So, what does everyone think so far? What could be better? What could I add? I'll take more pictures soon, but sadly I'm working with the camera on my phone so they are crappy cell phone shots.
Having said that, I have already gone through 3 different unsuccessful crops that failed due to my inexperience. The 1st was a soil grow, it was going great for about 2 months. Right when it got to flowering time, I had completely forgotten to manage the pH of the soil and before I knew it nearly all my plants were dead. The few that survived grew weak and soon died after I tried to add a buffer to the soil to raise the pH it was a short-cut quick fix and it back fired. Lesson: have some way to manage pH, and nutrient level. Trial #2 after having learning from Trial 1 I built a top feed drip system with vermiculite/perlite. I had GREAT clones from Oaksterdam mostly, but again I failed. I learned 100% the hard way that early on, you can't put clones under HID lighting. The majority of mine were under a 400w HPS and I couldn't understand why the plants under the HPS weren't growing more than 1/4th inch per day and the plants under my CFLs were growing 1/2-1 inch per day. I figured it out too late after coming online and doing some research. The clones under the 400w wilted, which was about 75% of what I had. The others got spidermites and any grower knows the frustration of spidermites, after losing so much I mixed more organic insecticide than the label said I should and ended up killing off the rest of my babies. Lesson: start slow, read directions. Trial 3, my most recent trial was undertaken under the same conditions I have right now, with 1 fatal mistake. Due to my car breaking down, I had to put all my money into fixing it (instead of buying nutrients after I had run out). Starting off, I bought quarts of everything. When I ran out of nutes because I didnt have money to buy more, I used some Miracle Grow I had. Although I kept the pH between 5.0-6.0., using MG for fogponics as I've already stated, failed. Lesson from this grow: have everything you need beforehand.
So here's my set-up: I have 2 closets that I am currently vegging in. So lets talk hardware. In the main vegging closet, I have 2-30gal Resivoirs that I made using te fogponics system. 3 Ultrasonic Foggers run for 3-6 hours and are turned off for 1-4 hours in each rez. There are about 21 gallons of water in these rezs (plural of rez?), along with an airstone tube thing thats bendable & is the best airtube I've ever seen or used hooked up to a 20w commercial air pump. Bricks hold up the foggers and keep them at the right level to fog the roots evenly, and I have taken a lot of time to make sure they do not leech into the water. My lights are CFLs that vary between 100w, 125w, & 150w equivalents. I've also got 20w flouros over my 2 rezs. I definitely need more fans, which are coming soon. The "software" I'm using is Fox Farms Grow Big, General Organics Bio Root, General Organics Bio Weed, Vitamin B, & Superthrive. I started the nutrients at half strength but have now gone to full blast.
In my other closet, I have soil plants which I am taking clones from. These I don't really care about (because they are in soil), I'm just going to take as many clones as I can from them and then flower them once I have taken all that I can.
These pictures are about a week old, so there are a few changes between the soil plants and the hydro plants, such as size (from either growth or cutting for clones), as well as the number of plants.
And now, for the plants
To make sure I get as many choices as possible and to determine which is best of all, 2nd best, 3rd and so on, I've gotten a very big mix of genetics. I'm thinking I'm missing a few strains due to my short term memory (I'm not at my house right now) but here's the jist of it:The Players:
2 Blueberry
1 AK47
1 OG
1 Crimea Blue
1 Super Lemon Haze
1 MK-Ultra
1 Matsunda Thunderfuck
The All-Stars:
1 AK47
2 Tahoe OG
1 OG
1 Blue Cheese
1 White Widow
1 LSD
1 LA OG x Purple Kush
1 Bubba Kush
1 Cataract Kush
Dirt Mothers:
1 Trainwreck x LA Confidential
1 Trainwreck x Jack Herer
1 God's Gift
1 Celestial Temple Sativa
1 Mr. Nice
1 Powerplant
2 Blueberry
I've already taken cuts of all the dirt mothers except for Mr. Nice. These cuts were taken after the pictures were taken, so my aero cloner looks empty but it is now full of what I hope will be the next generation of my grow. All of the "Players" will be flowered this grow, and I was thinking of throwing some of the clones I am currently cloning into flowering as soon as they get roots. My All-Stars I'm planning to grow out a little larger, keep them as mothers and take cuttings for a SOG for my 2nd grow. These all have grown faster roots and shoots but I suppose the true test will be which ones flower more and that will be what I grow for my 3rd grow.
And now for my Challenges. I have spidermites that I spray with Neem II (not pictured). It works great except I don't think it kills the eggs cuz after a while they come back strong. I also have root aphids which I was VERY surprised to see (I didn't know they could live on and eat roots). I'm going to buy a dip for the spidermites soon, but for now I am just spraying the Neem II. For the aphids, I've been killing them with my fingers but I was thinking of taking the foggers out for about 2 days and just filling the rezs up completely to drown them out and then depending on if it works well just leaving it like that and using the foggers for something else.
So, what does everyone think so far? What could be better? What could I add? I'll take more pictures soon, but sadly I'm working with the camera on my phone so they are crappy cell phone shots.
