IKEA Stealth Grow // The Church, Serious 6, with mobile A/C unit on 1,2 square meters

GabbaGandalf I reused the soil from my last grow except for the top layer of 10cm, which I removed. The Church plants look happy and healthy. Serious 6 germinated super fast (I used the method that Serious 6 recommended which was a game-changer for me) I will repot the Serious 6 to the Autopots next week. Because of high heat during my last grows especially during the summer months (day temps above 30 C) I am experimenting with A/C. Just ordered the Ecoflow Wave 2 mobile A/C unit. It can cool and heat. Let's see how that goes once it is here.

GabbaGandalf Air conditioning: Plants are looking great. It is still a bit too hot for my taste when the lights are on. The A/C unit should be arriving some time soon. I hope to be able to control the temperature better then. The Ecoflow Wave 2 airconditioning unit has arrived, however I need to find some time next week to install it. It is quite large and heavy and tricky to find a place within the grow box. Installed the Ecoflow Wave 2 A/C. It is a bit cramped now. The Church: Week 2 for The Church is going great, they are looking healthy and grow steadily. They have reached heights of 12-15cm. Planning to top them soon to get them ready for ScrOG. Day 13: Started with topping on the largest of the four "Churches" beyond node 4. Serious 6: Week 1 in Autopots has begun. Since repotting them, however, the leaves are showing symptoms that I cannot explain. The bottom leaves have started developing dry spots which are growing and taking over the whole leaf. The tips of the fresh leaves are also starting to grow yellow. I lined the hole with 5g of Mycotrex before repotting the plants. Seems like the issue was dryness. I should have kept the substrate hydrated from the top instead of relying on the autopots in the early stages of the plants. The fresh leaves

GabbaGandalf Ventilation, Temperature & Humidity: I got my monoblock A/C unit more or less figured out. Had to play around with the settings and adjustments. It is not directly made for this job and needs close monitoring. But finally I got the high temperatures in check. Also, it got colder outside, which helped. My RH is still quite low at around 30-40%. Probably will rise with more leaves coming. The plants are starting to smell a little bit. With my new A/C unit, some of the air blowing out is not going through the designated air filter and vents, but through the A/C unit unfiltered. Perhaps I need to power up my vent with the filter up to create negative pressure. However, that might suck out the cool air, since the A/C is located almost next to the filter. Need to play around more, perhaps attach another tube to direct the cool air to the bottom. The Church: Topped The Church during the end of week 2 and beginning of week 3 to get them ready for the ScrOG. This week I am going to start weaving them into a screed grid, which I am using to scrog. Serious 6: Thanks to your help they are recovering. The problem was a dry substrate at the very top. I thought that I had watered it sufficiently further down where I placed them, but the top layer was too dry. As soon as I got it moist, the plants rushed to produce new very green leaves.

GabbaGandalf I started to scrog The Church (left side of the closet). I topped the plants after the fourth node. Of the 4 Churches, I didn't properly top two of them. These two are looking like they are developing the main cola as well as the two side colas equally, so it seems there are three of them. Serious 6 is growing slowly. Two of the plants are staying small and scrawny. I'm wondering if that is the phenotype or if I messed up. And to top it all of, there was an accident with the Autopots :-(( This is the second time it happened in my AP system: The float gauges in one of the trays got stuck and the water kept flowing. The tray overflowed and the water ran all over my wooden floor. This also happened at night and I only discovered it the next morning. Luckily, the float became unstock at one point of time and the waterflow stopped. If it hadn't, 30 Liters of water in my tank would have caused serious issues. I was going to start the 12/12 flowering cycle next week, but looking at the Serious 6s I will postpone it by at least another week. That way the Church can scrog longer and I assume won't fill up the net as quickly as Serious 6 anyway, since it more bushy compared to the Serious 6 sativas.

GabbaGandalf I was about to start the flowering period this week, but since I have just defoliated Serious 6, I am going to give it another week and start the 12/12 cycle with week 6. The Church is now recovering from defoliation last week Serious 6 Due to its later sowing, Serious 6 was defoliated a few days later in week 5 (technically still week 4 for Serious 6). Climate is controlled now, thanks to the colder weather outside. I don't think my A/C unit is doing anything except pumping the air around.

GabbaGandalf Finally initiated the flowering stage Already I can see that The Church is stretching way less than the Serious 6. Temperature is under control now that winter is coming. Luckily my AC unit has integrated heating as well.

GabbaGandalf -

GabbaGandalf I am having a bit of trouble with the cold weather at the moment. Imo, the plants can't take up the nutrients as desired, leading to some tiny brown spots here and there. Serious 6: Accidentally broke the main colas off of two plants. Bummer. They were developing into some fine main bud. Serious 6 is becoming very fragile now, snaps easily. I will lay off the Scrogging from now on and let the plants stretch upwards. The Church: All is going well here.

GabbaGandalf Pretty.

GabbaGandalf So far, so good. The box is very cramped at lots of leaves are starting to die off. Trying to remove them where they are easily accessible. I don't have any pests so far, they tend to come during this season. Cold outside, humid and warm inside the grow box.

GabbaGandalf Serious 6 is developing much denser buds than expected. However, quite a few bud sites are super skinny popcorn buds although they are receiving enough light. Perhaps I should have trimmed more to let the plants produce less, but thicker, more developed buds. Overall, light distribution also seems uneven. The center buds are looking great, but the outer buds are more airy and fluffy.

GabbaGandalf Honestly, not what I expected. Quite a lot of popcorn buds, which I had to throw out, i.e. process it to Hash or make butter from it. The Church rewarded me with some nice and dense nuggets, but quite a lot of fluffy buds. Serious 6 was more disappointing, 80% of the buds were pure fluff. Drying now to see what is going to be left.