Not my first grow, not my last, always learning...

Hi all, and if you are reading this thanks, and feel free to chime in on whatever. I have been growing for roughly a year and a half now, basically moved to a new state, did not know anyone to be able to get anything, so after some talking and using my powers of logic, my fiancee gave me the freedom to grow for us. Although it wasn't tough to sway her, we are both huge stoners, and it only made sense to grow our own.

I have never been able to grow anything, ever. I have tried in the past, and even after we decided to give it a shot my first few grows, well they weren't even grows more like my first deaths. Since deciding to grow I have done more internet searches on a daily basis related to growing. I have been collecting large amounts of data, and opinions, and equipment insight on how to grow. I have also been experimenting with all this information to test out different methods, and styles to finally have a method that is working for me. Even though I have had multiple successful grows I have note stopped trying different ideas, and even with the new grow room being as new as my current grow I am already planning some changes to my system and setup. I do not or am not attempting to say I am any sort of expert. I am only going to be speaking for myself, about what I have noticed and learned personally, and to offer ideas and suggestions to anyone who wants to listen or contribute their own.

I am a DIY type of person so my first grow (or death if you prefer) is not even remotely similar (besides what I am growing) to my current. I have actually been so successful I am now putting my grow skills towards an indoor veggie garden (which is doing awesome!!), although we are not here to talk about my veggies so enough of that.

The next post I will start to explain what I have tried so far, and the changes made along the way. I would also like to say that every grow I have done has consistently been more productive than the last, and the way my current grow is heading, this will be significantly larger than my last. I also want to do this journal as well because I have been keeping a personal journal, and that sucks, because no one else reads it, and I get no feedback, although I do get to track any improvements I notice.

Stay tuned! Next I will discuss my set up, including nutrients I use, and what I am currently growing.

I want to apologize that this journal is starting a couple weeks into the grow. I just started my spring semester in school, and I was out of town for a trip, and another for business as well. I also want to add that either this new set up is really working for me, or this new strain gets big fast because these plants have been exploding since day one.

I turned part of an unused basement bathroom into a 6' wide by 4' deep by 7' tall grow chamber. I am growing two Auto THC Bombs, and a freebie Auto Dark Purple I purchased. Room is set up to support four plants, although I bought the seeds in a pack of 10, hence two of the bombs plus one purple, which will leave me with eight seeds to grow, in two grow cycles, of course hoping all seeds pop. I made this new room because I found my closet space just could not supply my fiancee and I with enough to last until next harvest. It was close, but not enough. So I wanted to make sure we would never be dry again. Here is the new grow room from the outside.

I grow stealth, and most likely always will. I started out trying small scale with a tote, this did not work at all, such a bad idea that I found online, at least for me it was. I then turned a section of my closet into a grow box which was 2' x '2 x 6' tall. This would be what I would use to grow for the past year, and it worked very well. I had a fan sucking air through the grow chamber, and exhausted the hot smelly air into the attic. Used all CFL's there were 12 of them in the box. All my walls lined with very cheap survival blankets purchased from the camping section at Walmart. So far I have yet to personally see anyone suggest using these as an option, which I don't understand why since they are cheap, and work as good as anything else. The following two pictures are of the closet grow space. I have removed most of the components, although have yet to completely tear down as when I switch to photo plants I may use as a mother chamber.

I initially tried growing in soil. This was not for me, not sure why or where I went wrong but it was a waste of time for myself. Then I read about DWC or bubbleponics. I thought I could try that. I just need a bucket filled with water, and an air pump/air stone to bubble the water, throw in some nutes, and I had a cheap set up that was really working, and have used it the past year growing plant after plant with success. The bucket was $2 plus $1 for the lid, an air pump was $5.95, tubing was $1.95, and the air stone was $2. So for roughly $13, I converted to a different grow technique altogether. I would also like to note that I have had no root issues to date, as I have read that root rot is a big issue with these systems, I always makes sure the roots never see light, and I bubble the crap out of that water, using light proof buckets and tubing, and over sizing the air pump a bit, like a 30 gal fish tank air pump for a 5 gal bucket, very bubbly.

Next are the nutrients I have been using. These are the two that I have used all along, except the fact that the floramicro is the hard water, I was using the plain floramicro originally. Switching to the hard water version was huge, and already noticing changes from this as well. I have yet to use the PH down. My water is very hard, I'm not positive what it was, was never able to find anything online, but when I started using the DWC method, and until I stopped using it, I always had this white cloudy stuff that settles on the bottom of the buckets and on top of everything. When I was changing the water I would have to change it twice to try and get the white powdery whatever it was out of the buckets and off the roots until it formed again. I now believe that was the leftovers from my hard water (anyone confirm or deny) basically leftover calcium and magnesium. After switching to the hard water floramicro I have not seen this powdery substance in my water, in case anyone else is having this issue and can't seem to find information online about this. Also I have tried the Lucas formula, and do not follow the amounts it suggests because it always seems to be to much nutrients for my plants and they get burned. Although with that said I may try again since I have switched to the hard water nutes, that may have been why the formula wasn't working for me. More testing to find out...

So about my current grow. I have ditched the CFL's and purchased myself a 600 watt MH/HPS air cooled light hood, and also an upgraded 440cfm vortex fan, and a carbon filter for the smell. I had to add the carbon filter because well the set up is in the basement, and as I can't have the exhaust vented to the attic, and can't have the place smell either, although I would love to walk in and smell that everyday. I upgraded to the new light to be able to support four plants now, and have always read that they were a lot better for growing, I, initially, was thinking cheap and went for CFL's initially. Although while thinking cheap, I was also thinking stupid. 12 - 43 watt CFL's at $13.95 = $167.40 of course did not purchase all at once. My new air cooled light hood complete with a 600 watt MH bulb and 600 watt HPS bulb and ballast was $148.00. My fan was a combo package with the carbon filter for (if I remember correctly) about $159.



I also am no longer using the DWC (deep water culture) method, and have switched to a low pressure aeroponics set up, although I have heard this set up referred to as a glorified DWC set up, The difference I can speak of are, the reservoir is no longer the bucket the plant is growing in, therefore changing out the water has become very easy, and I do not have to touch the plant, having a water pump means I can just pump the water into the sink or the toilet, since this is a bathroom, another reason I started using this room. Bringing gallons of water to my bedroom was a pain as well as dumping the old water, now I have water and drains in the same room. The reservoir is also now outside of the grow room where the temps are lower, meaning my plants are being sprayed with cool water instead of just bubbly warm water. Also this allows me to use less water as well as less nutrients. I am using a 396 gph water pump and low pressure misting heads to deliver the nutrient water to the plants, and the bottom of each bucket has a drain to allow the water to flow back to the reservoir. There is at most only about 1/2" - 1" of water at the bottom of each bucket. I have used multiple rubber coupling connectors between the buckets for easy take down of the system or if I want to add or remove buckets as well.

Now the ladies. Again the two larger ones in the picture are the Auto THC Bombs and the small one is the Auto Dark Purple. Now the dark purple.... Not sure what happened here, but as you can see she is tiny in comparison to the other two.



All three of these plants are the same age which is about three week old. Since the beginning I had a feeling the purple was going to be small. The seed itself was half the size as a normal seed, and has just been tiny all along. The THC Bomb on the left has been LST, and is tied down, and the THC Bomb on the right seems to have top itself, and is smaller than the left one. I did not tied down the right one and instead of growing one main cola has developed 8 tops on its own.

Here is the left Auto THC Bomb:


And the right:


And the Auto Dark Purple:


The purple, and I'm assuming may be from genetics, but the leaves are very rough and have been since they first sprouted. Also hoping you can see it, definitely is showing purple. I am not going to give up on it though because one thing I have learned is you may think they aren't growing much or you may think the buds won't be as large, but every time I have been surprised by how they turn out. Hopefully through this journal we can see how it goes. All the plant pictures I took this morning. I also want to mention the purple, if you can seen the stalk section in the middle, decided it was going to grow taller overnight. That literally grew about 2" since yesterday, so I'm hoping there will be more of that. A concern I do have those is that according to the sites that deal with this strain it is a start to finish in 45-55 days which means three weeks in I'm about half way there.

Now I know there will be at least one person to say "You can not follow the strains growth duration", but I have found after growing 10 previous Auto Berry Bomb seeds from start to finish they were all within a few days of what they said the seed to harvest time was. I was thoroughly please with the Auto Berries which is why I went with the Auto THC Bomb this time which is boasting about 10% more THC potency than the Berry.

These THC Bombs will most likely be the last autos I will grow though. I started with autos because of the fast finish. Having a small grow space, and the only supply to have, is that which I provide myself was why I chose autos. Although with the new room and hopefully a bit of a surplus from growing multiple autos now, I should be in good shape to grow photos after these autos, and not have to worry about space or lack of supply. Well that is the goal at least.

My next objective is to spread those bud sites out and allow better light penetration and the even canopy effect.

Yesterday was a busy day for me, I finished up three papers for school, and was able to build myself a scrog net. I normally just tie my buds down to spread them out for an even canopy although this grow my plants are actually a lot larger than I am used to dealing with. Hence my decision to make a scrog net. I made this net last night at about midnight with materials I have available, string, foil tape to keep the string in the grooves I cut into the 3/4" PVC I used to build the frame. The frame is 34" x 40". I have legs on the backside that can fold up, nothing more than two pieces of 3/4" PVC with loops on the top to hold on to the frame, and the net was perfectly wide enough that it is supported by the front wall with a slight amount of wedging, making for a secure net. This also allowed me to spread the larger plant out providing me with an even canopy for the two Auto THC Bombs.



I mentioned the size of the SCROG net also because I wanted to give some scale to my plants for those who cant see them first hand. Now again this is a new strain for me, but as far as I know is supposed to be about the same size as the last Bomb strains I grew. With that said the larger (left) THC Bomb is already larger than anything I have grown. I'm sure it's size is definitely thanks to the new light, and possibly the new areoponics set up as well. Either way I can already see that my fiance and I are going to have dry spells become a thing of the past, also reinforcing whether the investment into the new setup was worth it. It was definitely worth it.

The Auto Dark Purple is still small, but I have been noticing some visible growth still daily. I am excited as well because I have been smoking for 20 years. Where I am from I have never actually seen "purple" trees, like they way this is turning out. So this will be a nice strain to see finished. I also want to mention the smell, WOW, is all I can say. I have never smelled any other buds like this before, and not even sure how to describe it. Even though she is turning out to be small I will still enjoy every puff I take. I wanted to share this picture I took a few mins ago, and it's so sexy I'm not going to thumbnail this one.



Not sure why the leaves are curling, possibly the fan (note: the fan is oscillating, so none of the plants ever get constant wind) as I don't think 72 is hot enough to cause heat stress. I have a thermometer hanging 3" under the light for temps and also have another thermometer that I keep at canopy level to be sure the temps are good as well. Definitely have good air flow, the highest temps I have recorded are 84 - 3" under the light and 76 at the top of the canopy, and these temps I believe only actually get this high when I open the door and disturb the air flow. There is another fix I need to take care of, I noticed some of the hot air has been recirculating back into the room, so I will be building a foam insulation box around the exhaust to prevent this.

So I was thinking about the Auto Dark Purple, and thought I should check the trichomes, as the breeder states this plant is a 45 - 55 seed to harvest auto. That means according to that schedule this tiny plant is a week or two until it is at the 45 day mark, and I saw this...



So it appears all the trichs have turned cloudy, now I will be watching for the amber trichs. Unless this plant goes through a major growth spurt in this next week or two I will not be expecting much more than a few grams. I would also like to add that in the end I will post what my dry bud weights are from each plant as well.

I'm curious about this too because my setup is different than what I have been using, and so far I have averaged 3 - 4 oz, of dried buds, per plant. So without really having any space requirements as I did before, and the new light, I would be happy with a 1 oz increase per plants, although the way things are going so far compared to previous grows, I feel this goal will not be hard at all.

First off, want to say thanks to anyone who reads my ramblings. I joined this forum for two reasons, after a year of trolling all these different forums, this is the one I found myself visiting the most, and two I have no one to talk to about this, so it's nice to get it all out, this is a secret life I live, as with most I'm sure, although my state is up for voting on legalizing it. Also if it becomes legal, then my setup is already completely legal according to the new laws that have been drafted, drawn up, scribbled down, however you want to say it so fingers crossed.

So anyways I wanted to post day after pics of the new scrog net in the room, now that the plants have had time to look back up. It looks like it has filled in a lot in just the day and a half since I put it in. There was enough new growth that I was able to do some more tucking. This is exciting for me because my last setup was tiny in comparison (2' x 2' x 3' of grow space less than 3' actually because of light) so I found myself constantly having to tie down tall growth, and did the best I could. Now I have plenty of room all around, I have enough room to hang a second light and could easily fit 15 plants in the room probably closer to 20. In my pics the walls look close because I have cardboard line with survival blankets right up on the plants. The next grow will be four plants, that'll be the max for me, as I said I only need to supply two of us. Anyways back to my point, I could turn the plant in my old setup, but could not see the overall picture really, not like I can with the net installed, very exciting times, very exciting. I'm very excited to see the final amount. I'm going to decimate all my previous harvest yields, I can already see the new light was more than worth it!!



Pay no mind to that scrawny freebie seed in the front, she is definitely not tall enough to ride this ride, although I will smoke the shit out of her though. To bad, so sad.

Also wanted to post these pics, if anyone could comment on this for me. I do not do any water management besides changing out all the water, and adding fresh nutrients, I do check my ppm when adding nutrients as well. I do know some basic signs I guess, such as nute burn, signs of heat stress, spotting, etc, etc. I guess I'm wondering how my plants look to a more seasoned grower than myself.
In the first picture, the ugly leaf in the bottom middle, is an original, has been like that since the beginning and is the only leaf on the plant that looks like that. I see the yellow tint on the leaves, but only see that where it is mainly new growth. is that normal? Can get more pictures if needed, of course.

Thought I would post some new pictures of my grow. It has been basically 48 hours since the last pictures I posted, it is clear the the net is starting to fill in quite nicely. It is also evident that the plant on the left is growing faster than the right one, I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the self topping I mentioned in my first post. The left plant forming buds while the right plant is barely just starting to.

Happy 4/20 to all!

Today was my water change day. Emptied the reservoir, cleaned out my pump and filter, check all my misting heads for any that are blocked, mixed a new batch of nutrients. Last Sundays batch was 1400 ppm, this week is 1500 ppm. I have yet to see any typical signs of nutrient burn (the tips of the leaves) so I figure I will increase to 1600 ppm if 1500 goes well. Checked the calendar, and this Thursday makes 49 days from cracking the seed, and being placed in the setup, assuming my germination date is correct. Both plants are doing so good, look beautiful, and smell awesome.

These two Auto THC Bombs are filling the net quite nicely, and as the next grow will contain four of these, I can see I will be able to easily fill the entire 36" x 40" net. The left bomb's spread is covering a roughly 24" x 24" area of the net, and the right bomb covering about 24" x 18". I am also realizing that I have plenty of vertical space available still. I cant raise the light another 3' from its current height, the top of the canopy is roughly 3' from the floor, that includes the raised base the system is on, the bucket height, and the plant height as well. This makes me feel good about the size of the room being more than adequate for all my future grows. Also considering after these autos are done I have some photos I plan to grow, Grizzly Purple Kush, White Widow, LSD, and a Mango Sapphire, These are the freebies I have collected from my seed orders. So with the size I have available, I'm hoping to grow some good sized plants. I should have plenty of bud stocked up after these autos, as this current grow will most likely leave me with more than enough to make it until the next four, and that be even more for the final four. By then I will have plenty to last me while I grow the photos. I have been growing autos so the photos will be a new experience. I can focus on some new techniques, vertical growing being one I want to try.

Buds are starting to fill in quite nicely all around.





Looking good and getting very excited. According to the breeder schedule I have exactly 3 weeks from today until harvest. So I'll have probably 4 - 5 weeks. I will let them go over just to get the extra weight. I'm also guessing the left bomb will finish earlier than the right one as it has been a little slower to grow. But as you can see there are going to be a ton of buds sites, and so curious on what the final weight will be.

Hey man how did the auto dark go ? Got one growing myself

Looking good.

Reeferchiefer07 said:

Hey man how did the auto dark go ? Got one growing myself

Click to expand...

Dark auto unfortunately was chopped. Not sure what happened but it never grew any bigger and wasn't looking to healthy.

Joe Blows Trees said:

Looking good.

Click to expand...

Thanks! The left THC auto has rock hard buds and is so frosty and noticed last night has about 30% amber trichomes. The other THC bomb is bushy as hell and looks to be like two weeks behind. Have been so busy haven't had a chance to update so that's the plan for this weekend. I think I may chop the left one also but the right is staying in for a bit longer. Then the next grow will be the true test of four plants in the room.

As a side note I have noticed a huge difference in my grow this time around with the 600watt light and more space. None of my last grows has yielded a plant this size and the density of these buds is insane. Like a bunch of rocks. My last buds were always more fluff than buds. I'm excited to see my yield weight.

BreenGuds said:

Dark auto unfortunately was chopped. Not sure what happened but it never grew any bigger and wasn't looking to healthy.

Click to expand...

Aww man cause I got my own auto dark right now growing how did it smell ?

Hahahahahaha. It feels good to see the fruits of your labor!

Reeferchiefer07 said:

Aww man cause I got my own auto dark right now growing how did it smell ?

Click to expand...

Well mine was a freebie seed and it was literally the smallest seed I have grown and it just stayed small. Don't compare to mine. It smelled like lemony. It did look cool to see the purple in the bud. Gets me excited for the grizzly purple haze I have. I'm hoping for that to be a better purple grow.

Joe Blows Trees said:

Hahahahahaha. It feels good to see the fruits of your labor!

Click to expand...

So true man.

I have ace seeds purple haze going now. They're both well over 4' and just starting to form buds 7 weeks in from the switch. I'm hoping they have some natural purple.