Barney's Farm Sweet Tooth DWC SCROG 400w HPS

Backstory:
Been out of the game for quite a few years now. I used to grow and smoke a lot until I moved into a new house. I stopped growing shortly after that and had a kid, life moved on and my growing days stayed in the past.

(Fast forward 6 years) One day whilst cleaning the house a pre-Christmas miracle happened! I found 2 seeds I ordered years ago and never grew. I took it as a sign that it was time to give it a go again. Also the pandemic has been stressful A.F. so I could use a little something.
Found:
- Barney's Farm - Sweet Tooth fem.
- Europa Seeds - Heavy Grapefruit fem.

Challenge accepted.
I'm doing the sweet tooth first because I loved the high and it's sentimental because it was the first plant that didn't die when I was learning.

This is my first time using rockwool so I was nervous. But after 4 days she popped and it looks like we are in business! After 6 years the seeds are still viable!

Quick update. Roots are already pushing through the bottom of the rockwool cube. Decided to just move it to the bubble bucket and let it do its thing.

Reservoir PH: adjusted to 5.5 (water here is about 7)
PPM: currently at 160ppm with no nutes.
Humidity: 38%
Temp: 73 F
The plan is to run Lucas Formula along with bennies because I had issues with root rot due to my room being on the warmer side.
Last I remember was 600ppm final stage of veg. and ended flower at 1200 ppm. 6 years ago so I might be wrong but I'm hoping to push higher than that this time.

Things are looking good today!
The roots are past the rockwool and making their way through the net pot.


I did have a panicky moment after transplanting yesterday into the bucket when the cotyledons started curling downwards. After searching for a bit it appears to be normal as long as the leaves don't look bleached or burned. Though she does look to be reaching for the light so I did lower the lights a few inches this morning.



And finally, I thought I would share my simple beneficial tea I have used to successfully fend off root rot. I'm sure there are other ways but this is just my way and it's really simple and maybe someone could use the info!
Things needed:
1 gallon container for brewing
1 airstone and air pump
Unsulfured molasses
Earthworm castings
1 sock or something to hold the castings in


Okay I have seen other use FoxFarm Ocean Forest also (I think it's called) but really, the microbes we need are in the worm castings.


Dump a couple spoonfuls into your "tea bag" and set it aside. Next we will put a couple teaspoons of the unsulfured molasses into the container for the microbes to eat and multiply.



This stuff is sticky! I recommend running the air stone before dumping this stuff in. It will make it easier to shake the molasses off the spoon.
Next put the tea bag in the mixture and wait 12-24 hours. If the water is cold I would go 24 hours so that it can warm up and allow the bacteria to multiply.

If you see foam then you know you are on the right track! That's from the microbes consuming the molasses.

That's it! In 24 hours you should be set to pour this into your res. I usually do 1 cup every other day. If you are currently fighting slime or root rot, go ham and dump several cups in. You want the beneficial bacteria to overwhelm and consume the bad bacteria.
Be sure to refrigerate your brew after 24 hours to keep it fresh for up to a week. Don't let off the brew or you'll have to start the process over.

Anyways. That's all for today, I hope that info helps someone out there.

Morning all,

Quick update today. It's my kiddos birthday so I got up extra early to do the gardening so I could hang out with her today.
Looks like the damage has been done as far as the stretching issue goes. I've decided to splurge on a COB led light and be done with it. Will post on that once it arrives!

Okay now for the main attraction..
PH is back to 7. I remember not having an issue with PH last time, I think the tea and nutes balanced everything perfectly so I'm slowly adding the nutes until PH balances out to 5.5. I added a cup of the tea I brewed up yesterday and added a small amount of nutes to get things going. The rest of the tea is in the fridge and will be good the rest of the week.
(Using Lucas formula: 1 part flora micro and 2 parts flora bloom)

Roots are still looking good! No explosion in growth yet but the first set of leaves are growing noticeably even after 1 day!

New PH: 6
Old PPM: 160
New PPM: 230 (goal 600ppm)
Temps staying at 75F
Humidity: 36% (this will go up once the tent starts filling out and cloning starts).
Air flow will be crucial soon so that and lighting will be the main focus for the coming week.

Pretty much it for today! Take care everyone!

Good morning!

Growth is starting to ramp up. First set of leaves are noticeably bigger this morning. Cotyledons have perked back up also! Other than the previous stretching issue she looks happy.

PH rose a bit this morning but only to 6.5 so I suspect things are starting to stabilize. Also spotted some new root growth happening. Once they hit the water we should see an explosion in growth. PPM slowly rising with the addition of the tea, up 10 ppm today. This doesn't concern me because plants love this stuff and the rise will negligible once she starts devouring nutes.


Still using my janky led panel until the new fixture gets here. I also noticed that heat was building up in the veg tent, so I addressed that this morning by hooking up my modified Stanley blower and some ducting to the top of the tent. Air is pulling so hard now my tent looks like a juicebox getting the squeeze of a lifetime.

Adjustments:
New PH: 6
PPM: 240 (goal 600ppm)
Temp: 75 (after installing blower)
Humidity: 36%

That's all for today. New light fixture will be here this Friday which should help cut down on veg time.
Have a good day everyone!

Looking good . Will keep an eye on this one .Bet ya glad ya kept a hold of your kit and glad ya started back up .
I had a year off . Was great at first , not having to be pissing about every day . But soon got sick of buying off other growers . It's alright paying 140 - 150 oz off ya pals but some of the ppl that's not in the circle charging 170-180 even 200 for the star dawg .
So I decided to stay back up , almost finnished this run , couple more weeks

Trickyticky said:

Looking good . Will keep an eye on this one .Bet ya glad ya kept a hold of your kit and glad ya started back up .
I had a year off . Was great at first , not having to be pissing about every day . But soon got sick of buying off other growers . It's alright paying 140 - 150 oz off ya pals but some of the ppl that's not in the circle charging 170-180 even 200 for the star dawg .
So I decided to stay back up , almost finnished this run , couple more weeks

Click to expand...

Yeah it was a hassle always moving lights and equipment around but looking back now it was totally worth it. Those look great! Bet they will make for some good smoke.

Cheers!

New light is finally here. I was surprised how bright it is. 290 watts, COB full spectrum.

Now I have an issue of heat to deal with. The light puts out more heat than I expected so it could cause problems. The room has both veg and flower areas, but the heat in the veg tent is approaching 87F without the 400W hps even running. I'm hoping the 400cfm blower will exchange air fast enough to keep Temps no higher than mid 80's.

Plant seems to be okay with the higher Temps (so far). Second set if leaves look to be forming now. Sorry, breaking the rules a bit and snapping a pic with the grow light on.

Roots are just about out of the net pot.

Ph: 5.5 (haven't had to adjust)
PPM: 300
Probably move to weekly updates, seems like a bit much to post daily at least at this stage.

After a rough week things are starting to look good. Shortly after the last update she started drooping badly. I couldn't figure it out. She looked over watered and underwatered at the same time. The roots coming in were white and there was no nute burn visible.
After a lot of searching I found a common theme that LED lights seem to put plants under stress for a few days until they adjust. I moved the light up a few inches and backed off the nutes. Sure enough she is looking great.




Roots are healthy white. Adding 1 cup of tea every couple of days because my room is on the warmer side so I don't want to risk root rot.


Slowly building nutes back up. Adding .5ml flora micro and 1ml flora bloom daily to start. We'll see how she reacts. She seems more sensitive so we're going slow until more roots come in. Can't wait to start Scrogging and cloning!
PPM: 180
Ph: 5.5

Been having a hell of a time keeping temps below 85 when running the room with the hps but I think I've finally got it under control. The stem is getting thick! Really loves the LED. Node spacing is tight. I've never had this strain look this compact. Totally worth the hassle. Might get another COB and see if it can replace this hps in the future.
She's about to poke through the screen. I'll let her go a bit more and start scrogging next week.





PPM: 300
Ph:5.5

Current scrog progress.
Having issues with leaves canoeing up. Pretty sure I'm going too heavy on nutes. Backed off again to 325 ppm. Ph is stable at 5.5. Everything else looks good so far.
Also snapped a couple branches while trying to tame her under the net. So now I have a couple clones chilling in rockwool, hopefully those take off in the next week.
*edit - I guess the cupping could also be from low humidity but it didn't have an issue until now so I'm not sure that's it. Might raise the lights a little before messing with humidity.

First day of the flip. Clones are finally showing roots. Probably just let her go now and do her thing. Thinned it out pretty good so nodes have access to light.

She already smells like a fruity skunks asshole. It's unbelievable how strong it is. Probably the Hawaiian haze coming through.

First week after flip there has been an explosion in growth. Lots of little bud sites coming in. I've been strategically tying down branches that shoot above the others also open the canopy up a bit.

Won't be long now until the pistils come through. She's getting hungry.
ppm: 810

Little white pistils. Kinda hard to see but they're there!

Little buds all over. Can't wait! I expected stretch, but this growth is on a whole other level.
I swear she's drinking a gallon of water a day!
Nutes:1300 ppm and hungrier every day.

Lots of sugar. Looks yummy.
ppm: 1900

Week 5. Starting to notice some pistils turning brown. I can't remember this happening before. This strain is supposed to be stabilized but now I'm getting paranoid of a hermie.
Maybe from temperature swings, or higher nutrient concentration. Can't find any light leaks...
Guess we'll see.