FirstCav's First Journal Sponsored By the Cultiuanna CT-660

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
I'm feeling better each day lately and I'm back in the garden,at a much slower pace but super excited to see the plants again and start getting them healthy and sorted by sex. I should have at least one Purest Indica from Authentic Genetics this coming run and hopefully there will be some BOG Seeds too but they took the worst of my absence and are looking rough. Steve Lemme OG x White Cherry Truffle that I ran this last time will probably make it and maybe the pre 98 bubba kush clone as well. The Purest Indica plant is living up to it's reputation with super big indica fan leaves I just love the look of.
I'll be opening up a new journal as soon as I get the new tent up which should be this week and the extra space of this 5x5 won't be wasted. Thanks for everyone's comments and advice over the course of the grow. I was nervous about doing my first journal but you guys made it fun.

@Cultiuana thanks so much for the light to test. I'll be running it again very soon and will document further grows with it in the future. You have a DM from me as well.
 

Pwnstarqt

Active Member
Like it says in the title, I've been lucky enough to receive a light to test from one of our site advertisers, Cultiuanna. Thank you @Cultiuana . I have the CT-660 model I'll be testing for them during this grow which draws 660 watts advertised from the wall and is available for review and purchase at https://cultiuana.com/collections/full-spectrum-led-grow-lights/products/full-spectrum-led-grow-lights-660-watt-4-by-4-full-cycle.
I just installed the light yesterday in my 4x4 tent and have 4 plants in veg that I hope to be flipping to 12/12 in a week or two at most as size is becoming an issue. I'm running 3 Steve Lemme OG x White Cherry Truffle crosses from GuamMaineian Gardens and a pre 98 bubba kush from Dookie Farms that's clone only. I just finished transplanting the last plant and super cropped the bubba kush heavily as it was a good bit taller than the other three.
I'm finishing up on editing some videos and hopefully I'll have those figured out by tonight or tomorrow. For now here's a couple shots of the Cultiuanna in the tent at 40% on the dimmer. It draws 262 watts from the wall at 40% and a whopping 700 at 100%. The 700 watts was 6% over the claimed 660 but within the usual 5% range I've seen with my other lights accounting for my not so accurate Amazon meter. I don't have a temp gun to check exact temps but it's cool to where you can rest your bare hand on any part of the top of the fixture and driver's at 40%.
Plants will be in Roots Organic soil and I added in 2 tbls per gallon of the 4-4-4 Dr Earth dry amendments before transplanting them. They were getting GH 3 part nutes in the 2 gallon pots as I never have good luck with organics in small pots. I'll be using Dr Earth flower girl dry amendment fertilizer for the bloom cycle and add Epson salt for extra Magnesium to the well water they get.
I'm hoping that the better spread of these lights will give me a more even light distribution across the canopy and reach the sides of the tent better.
Its going to take some getting used to so let's hope this doesn't become First Cav's crispy plant show :mrgreen:.
All advice, comments and questions are welcome. I keep things really simple in my grow as I'm cheap, and try to do this for as close to free as possible. I don't stress about perfect leaves and bent branches. I'm disabled and I get rough with stuff, sometimes on purpose, sometimes it's just life happening. Somehow it usually ends up with some pretty decent medicine for me and the wife, which is why I do it. Hope you guys tag along and enjoy the journey.
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Bubba Kush after super cropping
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Hey Bro can I get a look at your pots? Those "nipples" on the sides, what are they for? What are they made of? What are the benefits? Sorry for the barrage of questions on your thread I've just not seen those before and I'm scared I'm missing out on something
 

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
Hey Bro can I get a look at your pots? Those "nipples" on the sides, what are they for? What are they made of? What are the benefits? Sorry for the barrage of questions on your thread I've just not seen those before and I'm scared I'm missing out on something
They're airpots, actually mine are cheaper knock offs of airpots brand. They have holes in each nipple that helps to stop the roots from circling the pot. When the roots hit air they stop and develop a network of fine root hairs. The bottom is plastic mesh as well for the same purpose. This was my first time using them instead of fabric pots and I really liked them except for the fungus gnats they seem to shelter. It is easy for the gnats as they have tons of access points instead of just the top of the pot. I'll use them again this next grow and then decide if I'm going to solid plastic or back to fabric. Here's a couple pics
IMG_20220808_150512839~2.jpg
That's one week or so after transplant. Roots grew down into the drain pan and we're drinking the runoff so I raised them up on brick supports.
IMG_20220915_163405720_HDR.jpg
I'm glad to help if you have any other questions.
 

Pwnstarqt

Active Member
I'm currently using fabric but always looking for that element I can improve. Thanks for the pics. I'm going to my grow store in the next couple weeks and will see of they have them. I'd like to try a few side by side with the fabric.
Just out of curiosity. What are you using for nutes? I used GH Flor-duo my last couple runs but my jugs are and empty and they have been discontinued. I think I'm looking to go to "dry" nutes maybe GH MAXI series.
Only other nutes ive used is the old GH 3 part (when i ran hydro) and Botanicare pure blend pro.
Any thoughts what I might switch too?
 

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
I've been using the Dr Earth dry amendments for a little over a year now. I used to run GH trip when I used salt nutes and liked it but I wanted something easier to use. I love the dry amendment ease of use and how cheap it is. You need a decent sized pot for it to run smoothly and I can get by with a 3 fall gallon fabric pot but 5 gallons are easier with organics. Fabric pots were drying out too quickly and causing EC spikes that were burning the leaf tips. You can wrap the sides up with Saran wrap but then it defeats the purpose of the fabric. For dry amendments you want the soil to stay consistently moist and not dry out too much. It helps keep the micro organisms healthy. Gaia Green is supposed to be another good dry organic nute company and they have a thread devoted to it here. Just do a quick search for that name. I like not having to ph test my water also when using an organic approach. I got so sick of playing around with ph down and testing every day. Now it's just straight well water and that helps out with my bad back and shoulder.
 

Big Pauly

Well-Known Member
It amazes me how fast they bounce back from even a really aggressive super cropping. The one I did yesterday was about as hard as I go, breaking the main stem just a little past 60% up it's length. I decided to support it while it heals for a couple days with an extra plant yoyo because of its weight. Once the knuckle has formed at the break and it's holding weight, I'll remove the support and the canopy will be way more manageable.
The bubba kush was going to be part of another grow I had planned before I found out about the chance to test this light and it was much farther along than the Steve Lemme OG plants that were just seedlings I had vegging at a friends house to choose one from. Once I got the light my original grow plants were too big and I decided to grow out the three Steve Lemme plants for this grow instead. Since we can have four plants legally I picked the bubba kush to try and run with these. It was the smallest of the others and had the least stretch. Hopefully after the training it will work out. Here it is today, less than 24 hours after being bent in half. Looking good and bouncing back nicely..... thankfully :bigjoint: View attachment 5174471
niice. what week are we on in this pic? and is the driver outside the tent? over to that other link, now. thx
 

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
They're airpots, actually mine are cheaper knock offs of airpots brand. They have holes in each nipple that helps to stop the roots from circling the pot. When the roots hit air they stop and develop a network of fine root hairs. The bottom is plastic mesh as well for the same purpose. This was my first time using them instead of fabric pots and I really liked them except for the fungus gnats they seem to shelter. It is easy for the gnats as they have tons of access points instead of just the top of the pot. I'll use them again this next grow and then decide if I'm going to solid plastic or back to fabric. Here's a couple pics
View attachment 5245122
That's one week or so after transplant. Roots grew down into the drain pan and we're drinking the runoff so I raised them up on brick supports.
View attachment 5245123
I'm glad to help if you have any other questions.
I still have the bottoms to the airpots I have ya. Wanna rendezvous is soon so I can get them to,ya? I’m free this weekend…
 
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