Big Girl ScrOG Vs. SF-7000

Hello Growers! Have you ever had a plant that overgrew your tent before you could even flip her to flower????? In the beginning, I had no intentions of flowering the plant featured in this diary. She was a little cutting, struggling in one gallon of coco coir, tucked away in the dark corner of my 2x4 foot tent. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this girl, until a few people asked me if I had any cuttings to share. I decided to rinse her root-ball clean of the coco, and transfer her to a small Deep Water Culture set-up, to quickly get her healthy as a mother plant. Next thing I know....BOOM...she's into the lights💩 and filled my 2x4 tent. Clearly it was time for a grow room upgrade!!! MORE LIGHT! MORE SPACE! MORE RESERVOIR!!! Luckily I had a Spider Farmer SF-7000 Light on hand, that I won in a contest here on Grow Diaries😃. That should flower out this plant. I opted to purchase a new 5 x 10 x 7(includes a 1 foot extension kit) tent. Lots of room now. Lastly, I moved her from a 5 gallon bucket (3 gallons of usable reservoir) to a 104L Tote (up to 15 Gallons of usable reservoir). My Nutrient Inputs: To keep costs down, I will be using a powdered nutrient ( 5-12-25 Tomato Blend ) by MasterBlend, plus Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate), and Calcium Nitrate. This is essentially the Jack's 3-2-1 method ( for those of you who are familiar with it ), except I'm using MasterBlend, a more readily available manufacturer in Canada. I mixed up two concentrated stock solutions to make a Part A and Part B, for fast, easy reservoir mixing. The formula is roughly 3 parts MasterBlend, 2 parts Calcium Nitrate, and 1 part Epsom Salt, all measured by weight. To Make Part A - Start with a 4 Liter bottle of distilled water. Remove about 2 liters and set aside. Mix in 720 grams of MasterBlend and stir until fully dissolved. Then mix in 240 grams of Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) and stir until fully dissolved. Now add back enough distilled water, that was set aside earlier, to make 4 liters of stock solution. Store in a cool, dark place. Light proof containers are advised. To Make Part B - Start with a 4 Liter bottle of distilled water. Remove about 2 liters and set aside. Mix in 500 grams of Calcium Nitrate and stir until fully dissolved. Now add back enough distilled water, that was set aside earlier, to make 4 liters of stock solution. Store in a cool, dark place. Light proof containers are advised. Part A gets mixed into the reservoir, followed by part B. Equal amounts of Part A and Part B are typically used. These stock solutions will make several hundred gallons ( depending on your dosage strength ) of mixed reservoir nutrients, inexpensively. I also will be supplementing with GHE Armor Si and Botanicare's Cal-Mag Plus. I add the Si to the reservoir first, followed by Cal-Mag, then A & B. I hope to only change out the reservoirs weekly, and top off as required. I will pH my fresh reservoirs to 5.8 and top off with a pH of 5.8. The pH is bound to drift, but I'm going to just let it (unless I see some lockout occurring😠). That's about it for my intro...... Thanks for stopping in! If you have any questions, about this 3-2-1 stuff, ask below or message me, and I'll try to answer as best I can. Peace, DeaneR😎

Flower WEEK 1 See Week 8 Veg for details of nutrient stock solutions Part A & B. This week was spent weaving branches and trimming up the lower canopy below the trellis net. This girl has recouped from the abuse I gave her last week, and is pointing to the light again. The light is dimmed to 80% on a 12/12 schedule, and the first pistils are showing. This is the biggest plant I've grown yet, and I can't wait to see her canopy full of colas😀. Peace, DeaneR😎

Flower WEEK 2 See Week 8 Veg for details of nutrient stock solutions Part A & B. Good growth this week. Lots of cola sites 😉. Peace, DeaneR😎

Flower WEEK 3 See Week 8 Veg for details of nutrient stock solutions Part A & B. I'm running the light at 80% power. Trying to keep the tent temperatures below 86F without air conditioning. Reservoir temps are hitting 78F (no chiller😲), and she is growing great, despite less than ideal reservoir temperatures. She drinks 2 gallons per day, and I top her up every other day with 4 gallons of R.O. water and nutrients as listed above. Every Sunday (the end of the grow week), I change out the entire reservoir with 12 gallons of R.O. water and nutrients as listed above. A couple times a week, I sit under her cross legged on the floor, and enjoy a cold beer😎, while cleaning and pruning her underskirt. Quite a difference of perspective from growing my usual plants in a 2x4 foot tent😃. Peace, DeaneR😎

Flower WEEK 4 See Week 8 Veg for details of nutrient stock solutions Part A & B. Trucking right along here!!!! She is smelling great!!!! Oranges and gum with a back note of skunk...lovely👽. Pretty much a repeat of last week. Heat warnings again this week (I really need to replace my broken central air conditioner). I'm running the light at 80% power. Trying to keep the tent temperatures below 86F ( It hit 88F a few days) without air conditioning. Reservoir temps are hitting 78F (no chiller😲), and she is growing great, despite less than ideal reservoir temperatures. She drinks 2 gallons per day, and I top her up every other day with 4 gallons of R.O. water and nutrients as listed above. Every Sunday (the end of the grow week), I change out the entire reservoir (simply drain and refill) with 12 gallons of R.O. water and nutrients as listed above. I hope the good microbes in the reservoir continue to win the battle against evil🙏. Peace, DeaneR😎

Flower WEEK 5 See Week 8 Veg for details of nutrient stock solutions Part A & B. I'm running the light at 80% power. Still trying to keep the tent temperatures below 86F. Humidity is staying between 58 and 64%, with a dehumidifier running in the adjacent laundry-room non stop. The dehumidifier is mounted atop one side of my double tub laundry sink, and allows me to capture that water easily under it, or pipe it directly down the drain. This week she gets a P/K boost from Canna PK 13/14 as listed above. I dropped the A and B dose slightly, to keep total reservoir nutrients near 850ppm. I have pushed her too hard and she suffers from some tip burn. With hydroponics at high temperatures, the plant can easily drink more water than nutrients, and quickly drive the reservoir ppm upward. I'm excited to enter the grow room each day and see the progress😍. My whole house smells of mandarin oranges😋...it's great. Thanks for stopping in! Much more to come, Peace, DeaneR😎

Flower WEEK 6 See Week 8 Veg for details of nutrient stock solutions Part A & B. This week I continued running the light at 80% power. Still trying to keep the tent temperatures below 86F. Humidity is staying between 58 and 64%. I dropped the Canna PK 13/14 this week and adopted KoolBloom powder by GHE. I've backed off the total reservoir ppm to about 600. I'm excited to enter the grow room each day and see the progress😍. The buds have certainly put on some weight this past week.... it can really be felt by giving the trellis net a little side to side wiggle. I plan on taking her the full 9 weeks of flower... so about 3 to go. My whole house smells of mandarin oranges😋...it's great. Thanks for stopping in! Peace, DeaneR😎

Flower WEEK 7 See Week 8 Veg for details of nutrient stock solutions Part A & B. This week I increased the light to 90% power (600 Watts from the wall @ 120V). I'm running the reservoir nutrients at the same levels as last week. I'm seeing through daily measurement of the reservoir, a daily increase of about 10ppm. This indicates to me, that I am closely matching the plants requirements for nutrients. The reservoir temperature is testing out at 75 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit daily. Only a few weeks to go😀!!!! Thanks for stopping in! Peace, DeaneR😎

Flower WEEK 8 See Week 8 Veg for details of nutrient stock solutions Part A & B. This week I removed the Cal-Mag Plus, Armor Si, and KoolBloom, from the feed menu. I'm feeding with R.O. water + part A & B as detailed above. I've been running the reservoir level at 10 gallons this week, and this girl is drinking 2.25 gallons a day. I re-top the reservoir to 10 gallons each day with 600ppm and pH back down to 5.8 pH. A daily measurement of the reservoir indicates the pH is swinging up from 5.8 (set point) to 6.3-6.4pH over 24 hours, and the TDS is measuring at 600 to 620ppm. Some buds are "fox-tailing" and throwing out new pistils. The fox-tailing appears most prevalent directly under the center of the light, in what I refer to as the "hot spot". The buds are continuing to gain weight and I'm going to push her for another week into that 55-65 day window, before harvest. Time to think about "flushing"....so easy with DWC😀👍. Thanks for stopping in! Peace, DeaneR😎