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Woohoo! It's time to start a new grow, although, this time, it's a bit of an experiment.
First of all, as most probably know, the electricity prices are insane now, and it can cost quite a bit each month to grow with multiple lights, fans, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and whatnot.
Secondly, we are supposed to go legal next year, which means that many people who haven't grown before will be interested in starting.
With these things in mind, my goal with this experiment is to test a basic growing setup that uses little energy while being suitable for people with limited growing knowledge, little space, and a small budget.
Setup
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Tent
A 40x40 cm tent that I normally use as a small drying tent. It's basic but works great and gets the job done.
Light
I'm using my trusted Viparspectra P600. It's a small, 95 W, full-spectrum light that is dimmable. It offers an almost even cover of light in the small tent. According to my PAR meter, the difference in light intensity is less than 5% between the center and the corners.
I will be running the light dimmed to save energy and money, so I tested many different dimmer settings and distances. Even a DLI of 50 is possible with the dimmer at 70% and the light at 30 cm.
Ventilation
A small and basic fan/carbon filter combo, where I placed the filter outside the tent to save space inside.
I'm using a mechanical timer to control the exhaust fan since there's no need to run it nonstop during the germination and veg period. Not strictly necessary, but it will save a bit of electricity.
Air circulation
I find that regular clip fans are too big to use in such a small tent, so I use two PC fans attached to the tent poles with a few things from the hardware store.
Monitoring
There isn't much one can do about the climate (temp and humidity) in such a small tent, so technically, there's no need for a thermometer/hygrometer. Why monitor what you can't change anyway?
That said, I prefer knowing what's happening, and while remote monitoring might cost more, it offers me peace of mind.
Electrical
A WiFi-enabled smart power strip is used to connect everything electrical. It has built-in scheduling functionality, so there is no need to use a separate timer for the light, and it's possible to kill all the electricity in the tent with an app on the phone. Handy at times.
I will also monitor the amount of energy used throughout the grow to calculate the actual cost once it's all done.
Container
One of the main challenges a new grower faces is watering. May it be under-watering or over-watering. In the past, I have used different drip systems to simplify things, but they can be finicky, so this time, I want to use a sub-irrigated planter (SIP).
The planter fits the tent exactly; like seriously, it's like it was made for a 40x40 tent. The planter has space for 31 liters of medium and 7.5 liters of water, which is excellent: 31 liters of super-soil is more than enough for an entire auto grow without additional nutrients, and 7.5 liters of water in the reservoir is enough for at least a week if you're out of town.
Medium
Usually, I mix my own living soil and use additional inputs during the grow, but this time I'm going 100% hands-off with a pre-made, water-only super-soil from Kañamu Pacha, consisting of compost, wood fiber, biochar, Leca breakage, quartz sand, sulphur, and horn shavings. I added my standard mycorrhizal inoculant as well.
Cost
I already had many parts of this grow, so I can't tell what I paid for it, but the current price on amazon for everything (except the medium) is €344,75.
Strain
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I'm going with FastBuds LSD-25 Auto, which I haven't grown before, but she is supposed to be beginner-friendly and a beauty. She is also relatively fast, which will save additional electricity.
Tech Specs
THC Up to 21%
CBD < 1%
Harvest Indoor 400 – 500 gr/m2
Height 70 – 120 cm
Flowering 9 – 10 weeks
Genes Sativa 35%/Indica 65%
Germination
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I started germination by lightly scuffing the seed in a matchbox lined with sandpaper before dropping the seed into a glass of water mixed with myco. The myco product I use has kelp in it as well, and multiple studies show how kelp benefits germination and rooting.
I also use some of this myco water to soak the root riot plug before planting. I'm looking to replace the regular coco/peat pellets that I've used for germination, and this will be the first time I start from seed in one of these plugs, although I have previously used them for cloning.
To increase the stability, I turned the plug upside down, made a small hole, and planted the seed after soaking it overnight.
The plug now stands on a small propagation tray on a heating mat underneath a humidity dome with a small LED spotlight above it.
Now we wait.
D1.
After less than two days of germination, she broke the surface of the plug. Half a day later, she is four centimeters tall, and her taproot is showing at the bottom of the plug. I have never had germination this fast and robust—maybe genetics, the plug, the kelp, or perhaps all of it.
In any case, we are off to a healthy start.
Initially, I planned on leaving her for a couple of days, but considering how strong she is growing, I decided to transplant her sooner rather than later. I put her in a transparent cup inside another cup in the final pot. That way, I can easily view her root development to judge when it is time for her final transplant.
I placed her off-center in the tent to maximize the room for LST, put some straw mulch on top of the soil, and put a humidity dome over the plant. I will remove the dome soon, though, as the tent's humidity is relatively high.
Ventilation is set to 15 mins per hour, and I set the light to a DLI of 12, but I will slowly ramp that up over the week to 16.
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D3.
After the first day, I removed the humidity dome as the ambient humidity was high enough. I also turned on the circulation fans to get enough airflow to move the seedling gently.
She has grown only a centimeter in height, but her stalk is thicker, and her leaves are getting bigger and have a darker color.
I haven't increased the DLI yet as I wanted to let her get more robust and settle into her new home for a couple of days, but I am planning on bumping it to 14 tomorrow.
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D5.
Exciting news! She has grown another centimeter, and her leaves are getting bigger! Wooohooooo!!!
Seriously though, there's not much to report at this point. Well, except that I increased the DLI to 14 yesterday, and I use the straw mulch as a ghetto humidifier by spraying it down with water once per day, and it works remarkably well. lol
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D7.
At the end of the first week, without much to report.
Today, I increased the DLI to 16, increasing the tent's temperature as a bonus since it's getting cold here.
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D8.
We're at the start of the second week, and the first side roots are visible.
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D11.
Zzzzzzzzzzz...
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D14.
At the end of the second week, there's still not much to report.
Yesterday, I increased the DLI to 20 after forgetting to ramp it up earlier in the week.
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D15.
Week three, and slowly things are starting to happen. She is stretching out and getting wider, and her root development looks good.
I increased the DLI to 22 and plan to raise it further over the week.
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D16.
Transplanted, added worms, and watered with 1 liter of water @ pH 6.4, with one teaspoon of myco/kelp mixed in.
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D18.
Yesterday, a few of her leaves were drooping but have sprung back. (Maybe a tiny transplant shock or slight overwatering after the transplant...?)
In any case, she is now growing along and looking healthy.
I increased the DLI to 24 yesterday and 26 today.
She doesn't need any more water yet, but I will continue to hand water until her roots have developed enough to drink from the reservoir.
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D21.
End of the third week, and all is well in the tent. She loves her new home, although I've spotted yellow tips on two new leaves and burnt tips on a couple of old leaves, so it seems that this super-soil might be a bit "hot."
I'm being a bit unfair since I had to use a magnifier to spot the burnt tips. That's how minor the damage is.
I increased DLI to 30, and still, no water was needed.
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D22.
We're at the start of the fourth week, and she loves life and looks healthy and vibrant.
I prepared some Sprouted Seed Tea (SST) today. I started a few days ago by soaking barley and corn in water with fulvic acid and kelp meal, then letting the seeds rest in a moist towel inside a paper bag.
Today, the seeds had sprouted enough, and I put them in a blender with one liter of water and blitzed the hell out of them. The amount of finished tea was sufficient for ten liters of water, so I filled small plastic bags with the leftover tea and put them in the freezer. That way, I can grab a bag whenever without going through the whole sprouting process each time.
I gave her one liter of the SST @ pH 6.5, with some humic acid mixed in.
She also got a light foliar spray with fulvic acid and horticultural soap as a wetting agent.
Increased DLI to 32 and will start LST tomorrow.
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D23.
She had finally grown up enough to get tied down, so I started LST today. Well, barely, as all I did was lean her over.
The branches on the first node are underdeveloped, as they often are due to only having a single-leaf fanleaf to power them. I removed the bottom branch/leaf but kept the top. For now. I'll give it a chance now when it gets more light, but doubtful that I'll keep it.
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D25.
I'm adjusting and/or adding LST a couple of times per day.
The soil is still moist and hasn't required any additional watering. (I plan to fill the bottom reservoir for the first time in a few days.)
Other than that, it's smooth sailing. DLI set to 36.
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D28.
We're at the end of the fourth week and the last week of veg as she is moving into flower. It already looks like she will be a purple phenotype. Statistically, most are, but I was hoping for a green anyway.
More LST to spread her out. DLI set to 40.
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D29.
We're now officially in flower! I can see the beginnings of tiny (purple?) hedgehogs.
I adjusted LST wires, tucked some leaves, and for the first time, filled the bottom reservoir since the plant should be mature enough to start drinking from it. (7 liters @ pH 6.2.)
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D31.
The LST is progressing nicely, and she is slowly getting more expansive. Even the branch from the first node, which I thought was pointless, is doing great, and it looks like it will produce a nice top eventually.
I have her one liter of SST @ pH 6.8 with fulvic and humic acid mixed in.
DLI bumped up to 42.
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D35.
We're at the end of the first week of flower, and she is rocking along nicely in the tent. Adjusting LST wires and tucking leaves every day.
DLI bumped up to 45.
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D36.
The start of the second week of flower and all is well in the tent.
It's a very low-maintenance grow. I train her to maximize the canopy in such a tiny tent, but that's it.
She has started drinking from the reservoir and has gone through about a third of it in the first week.
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D38.
I gave her one liter of water @ pH 6.8, mixed with SF nematodes, humic acid, fulvic acid, sprouted seed tea, and bokashi juice.
I also put two avocado halves on the soil to keep the worm buddies fed and happy.
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D40.
I increased DLI to 50, which raised the temp in the tent, so I changed the exhaust to 15 min on / 15 min off to lower the temp again. The average VPD is 1.2.
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D42.
The second week of flower is at an end, and there's nothing to report. This grow is so hands-off that it's slightly boring ;)
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D43.
The start of a new week, and not much to report.
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D46.
The reservoir is finally just about empty after 17 days. I'll top water with compost tea and sprouted seed tea tomorrow before filling the reservoir again in a couple of days.
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D49.
We're at the end of the third week of flower, and things are on autopilot. I'm not completely happy with the soil I'm testing as I'm seeing clawed and burnt leaf tips. Maybe I'm being picky, as it's relatively minor, and the plant looks happy overall, but I have never seen this growing in my own soil mixes.
I filled up the reservoir with 7 liters of water @ pH 6.0. I adjusted the pH to be on the lower end since it has a tendency to creep up over time.
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D50.
The start of the fourth week of flower, and she is just doing her thing without much attention from me.
She drank close to one-quarter of the reservoir in one day, so I expect to fill it again later this week.
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D52.
I've started removing some LST wires and removed a couple of leaves to increase air circulation. That's about it.
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D54.
I’m at Spannabis in Barcelona, so there is no plant news today. Completely mad here, though. There are loads of seed banks, many other vendors, and tons of people. Officially there’s no smoking allowed, but… there’s smoking EVERYWHERE, lol
Heading back to the madness tomorrow.
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D56.
I literally came back home from Spannabis only a few minutes ago. The plant looks good and there's nothing to report.
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D57.
We're at the start of the fifth week of flower, and I suspect she will finish in a couple of weeks.
I removed all LST wires and soil staples today.
Last night, I gave her one liter of sprouted seeds tea with humic and fulvic acid. A bit redundant, but I had some extra after I was done with my other plants.
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D60.
She is doing her thing quietly in the tent.
I'm starting to see senescence in her leaves, and I did the first trichomes check today, but no amber yet. She is at least a week, if not two, from harvest.
The reservoir is getting empty again, so I should top it up. I'll only fill it half-full as I don't know how long she has left. Instead, I'd fill it multiple times rather than deal with a reservoir with a bunch of water at harvest.
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D63.
We're at the end of the fifth week of flower and on the home stretch. Looking at the trichomes, I think it'll be a week until chop day.
I partially filled the reservoir with 2.5 liters of water @ pH 6.6 to keep her happy for a few days longer.
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D64.
I think this will be her final week, but I'll check the trichomes later in the week and let them decide.
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D67.
The trichomes are still lacking enough amber, but we're getting close.
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D70.
Boom! After 10 weeks, it was time. The trichomes looked ready, so I chopped her, removed some of the larger fan leaves, and hung the plant whole.
Unfortunately, I can't control temps during the dry, but the Inkird controller is set to 60% (+/- 2%) RH.
I'll leave her to dry slowly for at least 14 days. Now, I wait...
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My goal with this experiment was to test a basic growing setup that uses little energy while being suitable for people with limited growing knowledge, little space, and a small budget.
Using a pre-made super soil and a sub-irrigated planter meant that the grow was running itself most of the time, to the point that it was even a bit boring.
All I did was some LST initially and then fill up the reservoir with plain water once it ran dry.
I tracked the energy used throughout the grow, and the total sum, from germination to the finished dry, was 67,84 KWh.
This winter's electricity was quite expensive at 41 cents per KWh, meaning the electricity cost for the entire grow was 27,81 euros.
Together with the initial cost of all equipment, the final cost is 374,65+27,81 = 402,46 euros.
The harvest was 55,2 grams of trimmed buds and 7,5 grams of trim. It was not a huge harvest by any means, but it is respectable considering that the light never used more than 50W since it ran dimmed throughout the entire grow.
That means the yield was over 1 gram per watt in a grow that practically ran itself.
I'm well pleased with that result but am looking forward to crushing that the next time I run this setup ;)
This is a great strain 💚💚 I'm about to cut one of these down and it's only like 8 weeks old. She grew a flowered up so fast I almost missed the fun of growing it 😆 🤣
Good luck 👍
@Cyrusdavirus, I'm curious as well if she will be as fast as yours. I can say that she is already starting to poke out of the plug. Less than 36 hours after planting. Faster than any of my previous grows. I'm only seeing the top of the seed so far, but still.
@love_2_grow, I'm excited to see if your LSD will grow super fast like mine or if mine was just a freak, I've had a few plants that do that and I'll grow another one of the same seeds and it's normal. I'm just curious 🤔 to see what happens 🤔 good luck sir 👍
Nice setup, I'm curious especially what you think of the pre-made soil. This is exactly the pot you recommend to me once, isn't it?
And LSD-25 is a very nice strain, I had the pleasure to smoke it once.
@kohlrabi, Yeah, it will be interesting to see how that soil performs, and yeah, we talked about this pot. It's the first time I'm growing in a SIP so it will be an interesting experience.
@Lazuli, Thank you, and yeah, IKEA spotlights ftw! As for color, I'm actually hoping that I will get a green pheno. I recently grew a purple CBD, and I have two purple photos finishing up, so I wouldn't mind some green buds. 😁
@Cyrusdavirus, I will be thrilled if mine turns out as nice and quick as yours.
This is a grow experiment to see what I can get out of a tiny tent using a small 95 W light. I'm aiming for 1 g/W, although I suspect I never need to run the light at 100%. I measured the light in the tent, and a DLI of 50 is possible at 70% with a hanging height of 12."
Normally, I prefer higher hanging heights due to improved light spread. However, it doesn't really matter in this case, as the light is almost as big as the tent. No need for additional spread. lol
@love_2_grow, I just finished one of these and it stayed pretty small and finished from seed in 9 weeks... that said Fastbuds said it was going to be a big plant so 🤞🤞🤞 good luck with her
@kohlrabi, Yeah, she looks quite healthy. There are a couple of yellow and some burnt tips, so I suspect the soil might be a bit "hot." That said, it's so minor that I don't consider it a problem. I'm also pleasantly surprised that the soil seems free from fungus gnats. It's still a couple of months until harvest but so far so good. 🤞
love_2_grow
