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5 seeds started today.
3 White Widow CBD and 2 Northern Lights CBD
Used 1 liter bags.
Put into light box.
LEDs for light box are 3 watt,
4 White Full Spectrum, 5 Royal Blue, 1 Deep Red, 1 400 UV, 1 Green
Dimmed to 20% until they pop up.
Update
You have to love the genetics of QCS seeds. I plant 3 and 3 pop up in 4 days.
2022-3 Tent Grow
Tent 44“ x 22“ x 72“ 6.31 sq ft
Homemade 1x3 wood frame with 2 layers of panda plastic. Hinged door with latch.
Two 5“ fans at bottom rear corner feeding fresh air in with filters. One 5“ exhaust fan in the top corner opposite the intake is fed through ducting to another window mounted 5“ fan exhausting outside (8th floor). Absolutely no smell in room while budding unless you opened the tent door. Maintains 26° C. with all lights on.
I use 450 watts of 50 watt Cool White LED cobs on 3 reflectors as the main light source.
Right now in veg stage I also have
UV 400nm 9w
Violet 420nm 36w
Royal Blue 440nm
27w
Blue 460nm 21w
Green 520nm 18w
All coloured LED’s are 3 watt
561w total
When I want them to stretch some during veg I turn on
Deep Red 660nm
18w
IR 720nm 18w
IR 850nm 9w
For budding I turn on the Deep Red and IR LED’s then add 120 watts of Red 620nm LED Tape.
726 watts total
102 watts per sq ft in veg, 130 watts in bud mode.
50 watts of Blue 460nm LED tape and 93 watts of Blues and UV (400 - 460nm) 3 watt LEDs is used for the last two days before harvest as the only light source.
Grow medium is 50 - 50 potting soil and perlite in 3 gallon grow bags
Nutrients - General Hydroponics MaxiGrow, MaxiBloom and CaliMagic on their Medium Feed Schedule
Average tap water ph is from 5.4 to 8.8, 167 ppm, EC 334 µs/cm
I use Root Farm PHdown
all fans are 4 or 5 inch fans salvaged from electronics. Infrared red and some UV LEDs also salvaged. 1x3 wood recycled from old futon frame. Electrical panel near ceiling inside tent with all 120 and 12 volt supples with surge protectors, switches and timer. All 3 watt LED’s with heatsinks bought for $50.
Total cost of the whole setup before the seeds and nutrients was $210 Can., thats tent, lights, buckets and grow medium and all the little extras. I happen to have electricity included in my rent so there is no cost there. For the next few years I will only need to buy seeds. I recycle the grow medium by just heavy repeated flushing after each harvest and have used this batch for 5 or 6 years with no problems. I consider it to be pretty much inert by now other than all the small roots in the mix that compost naturally.
The reason I am posting this grow is to show that a reasonable setup need not cost a small fortune. I drooled over some nice tent kits but they are far more than my budget can afford.
Well I am trying to keep my diaries for Sundays.
All 3 are up. I had to do some seed husk surgery on one.
Gave them ph'ed water.
The light box is working nice.
Gave them all a shot of weak Miracle-Gro Quick Start to help the root development.
They stretched quite a bit so I transplanted the 1 Liter bags into the 3 gallon bags burying them low enough to hide the stretch.
In the tent with one 150 watt for a few days then all the lights will be on for 18/6.
It looks like a good start.
They have picked up a lot in a week.
Gave them a weak shot of MaxiGrow and they took off.
Just gave them a weak shot of calmag today.
WW#1 is a bit smaller and healthy the other two are looking healthy and keeping up with the NL's.
I have all 420 watts, all colours blasting down on them from 12" and they love it.
An upgrade to my lights.
There was 2 x 150 watt cob Warm White LEDs. Each on a heatsink with a 5” fan on them.
I pulled those out and installed 3 fixtures. Each fixture has 2 x 50 watt Warm White and 1 x 50 watt Cool White cobs. Same amount of Warm White with another 150 watts of Cool White but giving better canopy coverage. Each 50 watt has its own switch.
These fixtures are a reflector / heatsink so no fans needed, so some wires for fans are eliminated.
With the two panels of 3 watt LEDs there is a total of 570 watts for veg and another 120 watts of red LED tape for flower or 690 watts total.
3 heatsink / reflectors, 9 x 50 watt cobs, switches and wire – about 40 Can for 450 watts.
Before this upgrade I have been running all LEDs or 420 watts for the last week and the 3 week old plants love it, now an additional 150 watts should make them explode in growth.
I only have one more small upgrade to the LEDs. I ordered some violet 3 watt LEDs, only because the wavelength is 420nm. They must be fairly new, first time I have seen them. What more can you ask for than having 420nm shining down on all those buds? Happy 420 You All.
These 50 watt cobs are more efficiant than the 150 watters. 450 watts is drawing just under 2 amps less than 300 watts from the 150w cobs. The reflectors get really hot but the overall temp in the tent went down 2 degrees C.
A full strength shot of MaxiGrow and another 150 watts of lights makes these 3 very happy.
WW1 has been behind from the start but healthy.
WW2 is the dominate grower with WW3 coming close.
Holy poop, did these ever take off in the last week. WW 1 (center right) is still lagging behind, a little smaller and slower. WW 2 and WW 3 are doing very well. WW 2 (front right) is still the dominate one.
I noticed some sudden stretch so I turned off all supplemental red and IR LEDs leaving green, blues and UV with the main lights. Stretch stopped in a day. Topping and LST start in a week or two.
The new additions in the front are scallions or green onions to some. They make a good companion plant since they do not take up much room even when full grown plus they help repel some insects. Plus, I happen to love a fresh green onion raw with a bit of salt.
Oh ya. Explosive growth happening. I did the first topping 3 days ago. No slow down at all. They will get topped again so I am aiming for four main colas per plant. After topping I gave them two days of extra Deep Red and IR which helped them stretch out a little allowing the branches to come out of hiding. Controlling plant shape is amazingly easy using different colours. Once they stretched a bit the reds and IR got turned off and they started bushing out sideways. I am very surprised at how fast they react to the different colours. They will get their second topping as soon as the two branches are big enough.
The Scallions are doing very good although at least a month or two from eating. I gave them a shot of MaxiGrow yesterday so now they should take off. As I harvest the scallions I will simply plant more seeds in its place and keep them going for a perpetual harvest.
I am very happy with their progress so far.
These girls are having fun, They sure are growing fast.
Trimmed off a few yellows from the bottoms. Second topping coming in a week at most.
Hungry too, A normal shot wasn't enough so had to double their MaxiGrow.
Starting to drink a lot more too. Even WW 1 has picked and pretty well caught up with the others. (center left)
Scallions are 3 inches and starting to fatten up.
My light setup that is hopefully finished.
I use 450 watts of 50 watt Cool White LED cobs on 3 reflectors as the main light source.
Right now in veg stage I also have
UV 400nm 9w
Violet 420nm 36w
Royal Blue 440nm 27w
Blue 460nm 21w
Green 520nm 18w
All coloured LED’s are 3 watt
When I want them to stretch some during veg I turn on
Deep Red 660nm 18w
IR 720nm 18w
IR 850nm 9w
For budding I turn on the Red and IR LED’s then add 120 watts of Red 620nm LED Tape.
When is the best time to top or defoliate when growing in soil?
Before watering?
After watering?
Or does it really matter?
Also would timing defoliation with nute feeding either before or after matter?
Hi ya All
These girls are very happy by the looks of them. Lots of healthy new growth. Did the second topping and again no slow down. Bending some leaves to let the light through to the tops. Will start light defoliating soon. I was aiming for four main colas but they will likely be 6 or 8. I will turn on some Red and IR to make them stretch a little before defoliating. They are so stubby and compact trimming is difficult. There is no doubt that all the extra Blue and UV keeps them from stretching.
They seem to love the nitrogen, need to increase veg nutes a bit more. Still getting one or two yellows on the bottoms.
Overall, I am very happy and so are they.
Onions are up to about 6 inch and slowly fattening up but healthy.
After two days with the reds and IR added I got enough stretch to start defoliating. These girls are growing so fast I may need to start flower mode pretty soon.
They are happy regardless of the trimming two days ago. I removed the bottom two branches and fan leaves of all 5.
LST starts in a day or two. They will be going into bud mode next week I think.
I still haven't found the limit of their nute intake. I hit them a bit harder with no signs that it bothered them. It just made them grow faster. That was double the amount of MaxiGrow that is recommended. Tough hungry plants.
They are drinking about a gallon every two days.
The White Widow are the three on the left.
The onions are doing great. I'm curious to see what the onions do when the light is down to 12 hour. They will still get MaxiGrow since I don't want the onions going to seed but what will the light change do?
So far very happy with all of them.
Set the timer for 12 hours. Time to make colas.
These girls are growing fast. No effect on them after trimming two more lower branches off each.
MaxiBloom starting next watering. Reds and IR LEDs will get turned on in a week or so.
I think I will like these CBD's. I made a little ISO oil from the green veg trimmings. Its better at pain than anything I have tried yet and its made from green leaf. The buds should be amazing.
All are doing pretty good. A strange thing was they all drooped for a day after switching to 12 hour. No other reason. I had trimmed off two lowest branches on them a week before and they didn't even flinch but losing 6 hours a day made them droop. They were picking up again by the end of that first 12 hour day and fine the next morning.
They are all just starting to show pistils.
I haven't turned on any red or IR LEDs yet, I want to watch the stretch and see how much they reach. Once the stretch is over the reds will be on full blast. I may need some red just to make them stretch enough.
They are very hungry yet, lower leaves yellow again. I will give them one more shot of MaxiGrow before switching for the nitrogen boost.
Onions continue growing good.
They are all happy and so am I
All are healthy and happy. I skipped the last feed of MaxiGrow and hit them with a good shot of MaxiBloom.
These girls are now sprouting pubic hairs all over. So far only two inch of stretch.
Tied them up so the tops are gathered closer together to take up a bit less room. No more yellow leaves so food must be about right.
I will start removing a few fan leaves at a time over the next couple of weeks to open up the canopy.
Turned on 45 watts of 620nm, 660nm Red and 720nm, 850nm IR 3 watt LEDs. Will add 120 watts of 620nm Red LED tape in a few weeks.
The onions are happy too. I sampled one yesterday, spicy hot with a lot of flavour. They will continue to get MaxiGrow.
The girls are happy. Sweet little mounds of pubic hairs forming.
Only 4 inches of stretch so far which is better than I expected.
A few more fan leaves pulled from the center of each.
Next week a bunch of fan leaves will be thinned out.
No more yellow leaf, no leaf tip burn, they seem to have what they need.
Onions doing good but have slowed down since 12 hour days but no other problems.
For those 3D printer people
Check out my grinders. Grinder V 4.30 B is my daily user.
https://www.thingiverse.com/zappdoggy/designs
I would say the girls are pretty happy. Five inches of stretch, a bit more than expected. Removed a few yellow leaves from bottom.
Buds forming nicely, a fair bit of spacing between the bud sites but they should fill out well.
All Red and IR LEDs now on. Added 30 watts of 365nm UV LEDs with a dimmer. Running them at full blast right now to see what effect it has.
Just hit them with a heavy dose of MaxiBloom since they seem to handle any food they get.
The onions seem to be doing good considering they are getting shaded quite a bit.
All 5 girls are getting fat heads. Very quick bud development. Trimmed off everything below 12 inches lollipop style, thinned out the center and pulled the tops closer together. No more trimming needed now.
They take up any and all nutes I can give them. Doubled their food again and they loved it.
2 of the White Widow were a bit yellow so hit them all with Calmag and they got their greenness back in a day.
It should be about 3 or 4 weeks left. Things are happening fast. So far this has been a flawless grow.
If the CBD content is as good as the way these are growing they should be a medical miracle. Nothing has slowed them down.
These are the best I've grown since the HPS days.
Oh yah. I pulled them out of the tent to clean up in there and I was going to yank a few more leaves and LST them some more. But they are just too happy and I did not want to disturb their progress. They look so good I just put them back in as they were. They are fattening up all down the stems. Still have 2 or 3 weeks to go.
The smell is getting stronger, it has a little of the orangey citrus smell of CBD types but mostly a heavy kush tone.
Both strains are pretty equal in growth rate and bud production. They don't lack anything, amazing health and vigor.
Touching the buds leaves a wet sticky resin on the fingers that gets shiny when it dries.
The poor onions feel left out down below the rest in the shade but they are growing and slowly fattening up. Very heavy in the flavour dept.
For a CBD strain I would recommend either just for ease of growing. A smooth perfect grow so far.
After taking pics of the plants individually I can see they need some serious thinning of fan leaves.
Ok, I got a little carried away with the defoliation. They seem to handle it ok, better than I expected. I took them out last week to start taking individual pics and noticed how much leaf there was on them.
Oh well, not too bad. They are still growing. Buds are forming up. Lots of brown pistils but I think that is from the extra UV 365nm LEDs I have going as an experiment. They are frosting up lots.
Some definite odors when I open the tent. Nothing distinctive but a hint of the end taste.
WW 2 went kind of weird. Top leaves curled up like it had heat or light stress. Funny thing is that there are a couple of other plants with buds 4 inches closer to the lights and they are fine. WW 2 is the only one showing this trait. I have noticed that all 3 White Widow look slightly different and the 2 Northern Lights don't look the same. With all the variations maybe neither of these two strains aren't that stable.
Temps in the tent have been a consistent 26 to 28C.
A trichome check shows lots of milky heads so one to two weeks away. I will be pushing these past the ideal time with maybe 60 or 70% amber since I want some couchlock in this batch.
All looking good although yield will not be as good as hoped.
Onions continue their slow paced growth from way under the canopy.
A strange week for the girls. WW 2 got chopped due to the drying and curling top leaves were getting worse so took her early. I got 14 grams of dried bud off her. Now curing.
WW 1 and WW 3 are both showing signs of finishing except the trichomes are just now pretty much all milky but no amber at all.
I'm starting to wonder if I got the name tags mixed up somewhere along the line. Both WW's are different and the two NL's are different. One WW looks similar to one of the NL's and the remaining two look alike. I going by the colours of remaining bud leaves. One of each is green and the other two have lots of yellow leaf. I just keep them separate until they are cured and see if I can tell then.
Onions continue to grow although I really need to thin them out if I want any size. They will remain in the tent which will have the next crop going in soon on 18 hours.
I like the way both strains grew so it depends on how good the CBD effects are whether I grow these again. I do have two WW seeds and one NL seed left.
Zappdoggy
