Gelato auto in a bathtub

I am back in the growing game after a hiatus of a couple years. My previous grows were photo period strains, and I’m trying some Gelato Auto now. These are 2 weeks into veg and look pretty healthy to me. There was a runt in the litter, but she seems to be catching up.

They are growing in 3 gallon airpots, with Fox Farms soil, and I use most of the nutrients in the FF schedule, at roughly half strength, twice a week. They are on a 22/2 schedule now, will push to 24/0 when flowering starts.

I have a Mars Hydro TSL 2000 18 inches from the tallest plant, directly over head. I also have a Phlizon 1200 LED on the left, angled at roughly 45 degrees, and an old Blackdog LED on the right also angled in at 45 degrees. Directly behind the plants is a 4 fixture T5 with 3000k bulbs at the moment.

I had the entire grow space sealed with a couple of Mylar panels I hung across the front of the tub, but temps just got to be too high, so I opened the space up.

I’ve not yet decided on topping, but LST will be used extensively to maximize exposure to the light. I will probably also build a SCROG screen, roughly at the height of top of the T5, which will remain in place. The LEDs will be above the screen for what I train to grow to that height, and the T5 will provide lighting for what is below the screen. I have a couple of 2 foot 2 tube T5 lights I’ll hang on the front, also below the SCROG screen. I’m not sure if lighting the plants below the screen will net any gain, but I can always move the T5 to above the screen if I want.

I also have a 600w HID that might replace the Mars Hydro LED during the last couple weeks of flowering, and I plan to finish them off with a week of UV.

The fan in the photos is an oscillating one, and the hose attached to it is connected to the ac vent in this bathroom. The plants all get a shot of cool air when the system is running, and the vibration they experience should help to build some strong branches. Temps hover between 75 and 85.

I purposely planted these a bit lower than normal—the nice thing about the airpots is you can use the dimples as an anchor point for the first LST bend. I will let them grow until I see a well developed trunk that is the height of the first row of dimples and bend her over.

Everything seems to be going well so far...I had several grows with photoperiod strains a couple years ago that went well, so I’m hoping I can match that with these autos...View attachment 4896724View attachment 4896724

These were started on 26 Apr 21 and look to be doing well as they transition to flowering. I’m really constrained height-wise in my tub, so lots of LST to keep the canopy low and even. I’m using shelf brackets to extend the stalks with multiple colas beyond the perimeter of the airpots in which I’m growing.

I’m expecting delivery of a 6 fixture T5 light, that will hang horizontally at the front of the tub opening, pointing in at the plants. The 4 fixture T5 light I have there now will move to the back of the tub enclosure, also pointing inward toward the plants. I have a Marshydro TSL2000 above them (at roughly 20 inches separation) aiming straight downward, and a pair of Phlizon 1200 watt lights at the ends of the TSL 2000, pointed inward at the plants at roughly a 45 degree angle. I don’t think I can squeeze any more photons in there.

I've used the shelf brackets before to widen the canopy and it worked well, but eventually, too many shelf brackets make it impossible to rotate the plants to evenly catch light, hence the lighting scheme. Each part of each plant will get direct light from at least one of the five lights above the tub. Right now, the airpots are sitting on plastic milk crates, and if I get more vertical growth than I can manage, they will move to sit on the bottom of the tub which will give an additional 11 inches of headroom.

this is in a bathroom on the top floor of my house and it is tough to control the temps, so the whole operation is moving to a ground floor bathroom today...I’ll document the assembly and relocation later today.

Slainte,

Retired Engineer

looking good, love lst for all plants, autos and photos, best way to pump plants up wo stunting by topping. Love to see others doing so also.

Goin’ horizontal...

More LSTing and stretching...exposes so many more bud sites to direct light. I’ve counted over 20 sites on each plant. I‘m letting the buds sites develop and grow above a pretty dense lower canopy so the lower leaves can provide energy for further bud growth. I’ll probably defoliate in a couple days looking for new bud sites that are under cover now, but I’m not gonna strip them bare.

These plants are getting light from 5 directions - there ain’t gonna be too many shady spots for the next few weeks:

Marshydro TSL2000 directly above
A pair of Phlizon 1200 watt LEDs at the ends of the TSL2000
A 4 fixture 4 foot T5 hanging vertically behind them (facing outward from the tub)
A 6 fixture 4 foot T5 hanging vertically in front of them (facing into the tub)

Moved the Phlizon 1200 watt lights up a few inches; the 2 plants directly in their light were getting a bit stressed. Some more moderate LST today - the main colas are getting too stiff to bend without damage, but the secondary ones toward the edges of the pots are still pliable. The Marshydro TSL2000 is around 18 inches from the canopy.

I’m about done putting in the shelf brackets as outriggers. Not too many more branches to get outside the perimeter of the pots, and the effort thus far has netted me several cola sites directly in the lights that woulda been buried under other parts of the plants so I’ll let the ends of these stretch upward unimpeded while the newly exposed lower bud sites develop. I used this method a bit before in previous grows, but made the mistake of using too many outriggers which made the pots difficult to move around in the tub.

temperatures are much better since I moved this down to a first floor bathroom, and I don’t have to trudge up stairs anymore, important for a dude of my advanced years...

hope all is well where ever you are...

Couple more shots. The plants are lifting the shelf brackets and wire hoops I”m using for LST right outta the ground...sign of healthy plants I suppose.

Kinda gives going to the bathroom a whole new perspective
Cool grow !

Herb & Suds said:

Kinda gives going to the bathroom a whole new perspective
Cool grow !

Click to expand...

Thanks, I might have too much light so watching that closely...seems to be one particular position where the pants sit, so some location rotation might be in order. I turned the Marshydro down to 75% (it had been at 100%) to see if that has any effect.

Always talked about this growing up as a kid on how growing in the bathroom would be perfect because drainage and water supply. Plus fresh air and HVAC lol. Your my hero.

I had a bathtub/shower enclosure changed to a standing shower, but I’d hate to lose that to a bathroom grow, so I’m using the tub. It was a cool mental exercise to figure out how to do this. I took a 2x6 and screwed 2x4s on the ends to act as a overhead frame, and mounted the fan and filter above, and hung lights from below. I covered the walls with Mylar, though just leaving them bare might have worked as well.

I used a 4 inch ducting flange to divert the AC/heating vent from the floor into the enclosure, and have a home made CO2 generator, and humidifier behind an oscillating fan that is aimed at the 4 inch flexible hose that brings cold air into the enclosure. There are 4 other CO2 generators in the enclosure as well. Hanging down from the front of the frame are two Mylar covered panels that are removable for access to the plants and enclose the space above the lights so the fan can extract hot air from above the lights.

i have enuff room in here to also start 8 more plants in cow pots (you can see them in one of the photos). Four for my backyard and 4 for the GF’s house. On 1 Jul 21 I can move them outdoors, so I’ll start them inside this week, nurture them thru veg stage inside in the cow pots, do some early LST, and harden them off on in a private area of my patio for a legit outdoor grow.

I have several ideas for the outdoor grows for trellises and other means to maximize yield - the last photo is a stand/planter/frame I built that will be full of moon flowers in a month...I’m might do something like this.

I think I’ll use autos for the outdoor effort just to ensure they reach maturity and are ready for harvest before the middle of Oct when it starts getting cold here. The auto Gelatos in the tub should be ready for harvest in mid July, and I might throw a photo period in there (probably go down to 3 plants to make it more manageable), and try my hand at a SCROG. Leaning toward Ghost Train Haze, GG4, or GSC for that.

I’m a retired engineer so give me enuff time and I’ll figure anything out...

Sweet deal man. I bet having that knowledge from over the years make some of life's most complicated ideas and task easy as pie. The engineering portion of all my indoor grow have been bare minimal. Simple pullies and plastic mostly cosmetic work other than rewiring through closet doors (so hard right). Lmao. But your set up is awesome to look at man. To say the least.

DrOgkush said:

Sweet deal man. I bet having that knowledge from over the years make some of life's most complicated ideas and task easy as pie. The engineering portion of all my indoor grow have been bare minimal. Simple pullies and plastic mostly cosmetic work other than rewiring through closet doors (so hard right). Lmao. But your set up is awesome to look at man. To say the least.

Click to expand...

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop and an idle mind his playground...in my careers in the Air Force and as a consulting engineer I had to develop the ability to multi-task. I had design and construction projects all over the world (at one time my geographic responsibilities stretched over 14 time zones (Hawaii to Afghanistan)), so had lots of things in the air at once. When I retired I filled that void with hobbies, which soon became obsessions.

The more I think about a problem or look for opportunities to improve the grow, the better solution/improvement I find.

I’m carving this update into 4 segments since there is a 10 photo limit per post. Each successive post will be to document a single plant in the family with some comments.

Here is plant #1, which is the most fully developed. The branches tied to the outriggers are continuing to stretch, and the tips will turn upwards over night as I continue to tie them down.

Plant #2, not too far behind #1 in development of colas and frostiness.

Plant #3, lots of colas, but not as frosty yet...

And, plant #4. This one was a runt at the seedling stage, and had around 50% of the vegetative grow of her sisters for the first couple weeks of vegetation phase. She has caught up in terms of size, but the colas are just beginning to show, and aint too frosty, yet.

Looking ahead, I’m probably gonna have a phased harvest by individual plant since they seem to each be on their own timeline. Actually, that’ll be to my benefit so no complaints.

I added one more outrigger to plant #3, and am done with that part of LST. Focus here on out will be clearing the canopy selectively to expose growing bud sites, and removing leaves that are withered/discolored...let the fun begin, or continue...

Here is a shot of the growing enclosure with the lights off and plants out for haircuts and LST’ing. I replace the home made CO2 generators every 2 weeks, and I can keep temps in the low 80s and RH around 40% with the extension of the AC duct into the enclosure and the humidifier running behind the oscillating fan. I am so fucking glad I moved all this downstairs...more controllable environment and my knees and hips don’t miss the stairs at all...

I bought some activated charcoal filled bags from Amazon, and have them pinned to the top of the door frame to the bathroom, and around the AC return duct, which is right outside the bathroom. Might not have any effect, but cheap and worth a try. I am a civil engineer and had to take intro to thermodynamics twice (not because I liked it so much the first time...), but I remember hot air rises, so the bags might give the air some scrubbing at the ceiling level as hot air leaves the room and goes directly into the return line.

Sweet!!

Happy family...