Zkittles Auto (Fastbuds) + Quantum Board

INTRODUCTION ============== Hi there, this is my second grow - I have no experience with Hybridised feminised seeds, or Autoflowers, or Tents, or Carbon filters, or extraction fans, or LED lights, LST, or humidity control, or Temp control, or coco feeding with a nutrient armoury comprising seven products. This entire endeavor is being done on the back of massive amounts of Internet research, looking at other diaries on here, and the commitment of a large part of my resources in both time and money. It took months of research to come to the choice of Quantum Boards, Fastbuds seeds, Coco, Flairform nutrient range, and a closed tent controlled ducted, humidity/temp controlled environment as being my best arrangement for optimum massive sticky bud production. However, the lack of practical experience is a huge factor, so I expect to see mistakes, possibly catastrophes. Thank you for coming along for the journey. All comments, questions and suggestions are highly welcome. AIMS FOR THIS GROW AND THIS DIARY ================================ I will do my best to make this a detailed, complete and informational diary with high quality imagery and video. and I will do my best to make this an attentively monitored grow and give it everything I have to get the best result I can. I would ideally like to get 1.6g-2.6g per watt of light (however unlikely for my second grow) this will be the ongoing goal for my grows using this setup. GROW SETUP ============ This grow is 9 Zkittles Auto plants from Fastbuds, in a 1.2m by 1.2m by 2.0m grow tent. (My intention is to remove the weakest of the 9 during the first few weeks to leave a final 8 plants to grow to maturity). They are growing in 11.4 Litres airpots. Each Airpot has 2 Litres of Canna expanded clay balls in the base, followed by a 30/70 mix of Perlite and Canna pro plus coco coir. The lighting is four quantum q288 boards, each has 288 samsung LM301b diodes for a total of 1156 diodes. I choose the 3500k spectrum (as it was an option from the supplier). This is a relatively rare spectrum for Quantum Boards as HLG (so far) only make them in 3000k and 4000k. My research led me to the conclusion that 3500k is the optimal spectrum for dual Veg/Flower usage. They are running at a combined 480watts for a total PPDF of 1176 umol. This is a DIY clone version of the HLG-550 (purchased from Kingbrite on Alibaba for $400USD including International Express DHL Shipping). The quality of the light and its components are all high quality genuine parts. I have built my own custom frame out of 20mm x 20mm x 3mm angle aluminium to spread the lights to the same dimensions as the original HLG-550 light. This light doesn't necessitate any active cooling even at full wattage, and it ticks along at around 40c at 240w, and gets to around 50c at a full 480w (Heatsink temp tested with infrared gun). The Coco was given an initial pre-treatment watering with a 35% strength Flairform GreenDream 1 Grow with a 66% Flairform ROOTS additive mixed in tap water to a PH of 6.1. I also added 0.5g/L of Trichoderma powder to the pre-treatment feed. I've found it difficult to get exact quantities for Trichoderma use, so I had to make an educated guess on what amount to put in, I think I likely used too much, but apparently Trichoderma will die back to nominal levels if it doesn't find enough food to consume, so theoretically it shouldnt be possible to overuse it within reasonable limits. The watering was done to an approx 20% run off. GERMINATION ============ The seeds were germinated using the tissue paper technique. They were left to germinate and then transplanted directly into their final pots. After tap roots were about 1-2cm long, I made narrow holes in the coco and carefully placed the tap root into the hole (gently holding the seed shell with tweezers). I left the unopened cotyledon/seed hull just above the surface of the coco and then sprinkled a little coco over it. This seems to have worked well and as soon as after the first light cycle came on the seedlings had pushed up and were visible. By the second light cycle the cotyledons had opened and tiny first leaves were visible. The light was set to 60w at 90cm for germination day, and then once the first leaves appeared they were set to 1/2 intensity for this initial seedling stage (240w) at 90cm above the canopy. This is my second grow using Quantum Boards, and I'm still at the stage of refining exactly where to set the intensity/height throughout the grow, but this arrangement feels about right. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS ========================= Air circulation is to be provided is via a tent-pole mounted (re-purposed ordinary household stand) fan. I'm using a laboratory lab clamp and drilled a hole in the fan plastic stand housing to mount the fan on one of the tent frame poles, this positions the fan far enough out from the corner of the tent to allow the fan to fully oscillate through 90 degrees and rotate from one side of the tent to the other, and avoids the need for using ground space for the fan stand. Air Ventilation is being provided via a (max 330m3/h & 160Kpa) 100mm inline mixed flow fan and 300mm Carbon Filter that ducts (via 100mm ducting) out of the grow room and into the roof space. I have two tents ducting to a Y joiner, that then ducts via one duct to the roof space. The Y joiner is mounted on the grow room wall between the tents, and will allow me to easily vent back into the room and setup a recycling air system should I decide (most likely in the coldest part of winter in order to conserve heat) however I imagine this option will necessitate the use of dehumidifier. Humidity/Temp monitoring is provided by a wireless monitoring station with 3 wireless monitors. I have one in each of my tents and one in the grow room itself, and the monitoring station is in my bedroom, allowing me to keep an eye on the growing environment whenever I like without needing to open up the growroom or the tents. (You can get one of these on eBay for around $30 USD with 3 remote sensors). Spot temp measuring is being done with an infrared temp gun. This technology is incredibly cheap (around $7 on eBay), and allows for checking leaf temps, coco temp etc from pot to pot. It is a remarkably useful tool. PH monitoring is done via a bluelabs PH Pen. (Top quality NZ made device). Heating is provided by a 800w 6-fin oil heater. This is currently using the built in thermostat to keep day temps at around 25c. NUTRIENTS ========== My Nutrients are the full Flairform range (Flairform.com) as follows: GreenDream-1 Grow : ONE-part Vegetative nutrient for hydroponics, coco and soil GreenDream-1 Bloom : ONE-part Flowering nutrient for hydroponics, coco and soil Roots : Promotes vigorous root growth CMX : Calcium, magnesium & iron additive GroStorm : The All-in-One organic additive SilikaMajic : Silica additive for enhancing plant weight & strength BudStorm : The All-in-One flowering additive BudGenie : For improving resin output I also have "Plantmate" Trichoderma powder. WATER TREATMENT ================ For PH Control I have a standard PH-UP and PH-DOWN, as well as PH 7.0 and PH 4.0 Calibration solutions, and KCL probe storage solution. Because the PH control solutions are so concentrated, I dilute 1 part PH-DOWN with 9 parts distilled water, and use this. In general I have found I use around 1ml-1.5ml of this diluted solution to lower 10 litres of nutrient by 0.1 of the PH value. So far, I have not found a need for the PH UP as my municipal tap water is around 7.5-8.0 (and around 180PPM) out of the tap. Since moving from my $10 budget PH pen to the Bluelabs pen, I have found calibration to be needed very infrequently. With the budget meter I was getting so much drift that it necessitated calibrating every other day, and even then the PH readings always felt a bit of a close estimation rather than an accurate measurement. REMAINING GOALS ================ I currently have on the following items intransit (from Chinese eBay sellers for items 1 thru 8) order: 1) A Xioami 110degrees wifi webcam to allow remote monitoring (And eventually, full grow time-lapse video production) 2) A humidity controller for the extraction fan. 3) A temperature controller for the oil fin heater. 4) Lab clamps for mounting a pedestal fan (minus the pedestal) to a tent pole. 5) An EC meter to use in preference to the TDS PPM meter I already have (EC seems to be what the pro's prefer over PPM). 6) An inline wattage meter to go on the light so I can see easily exactly what intensity the lights are operating at. 7) A 60x illuminated magnifying loupe with phone clip for trichome monitoring to determine optimal harvest time. 8) A green LED 1000lm torch for night viewing the plants. Autoflowers shouldn't mind interruptions to the night cycle, but why not be sefe just in case! 8) FloraKleen - Clearing Solution - after my salt build-up disaster in my other tent, I want to have this on hand for emergencies and possibly for switching from veg to flower nutrients, and for the final flush before harvest. DAY 2 - Good Looking plants so far. DAY 3 - Installed Carbon filter and extraction fan. Installed small ventilation fan, then after taking Day-3 photos I hung a 40cm fan for proper circulation. Hopefully the tentair quality needs are now well met. The plants continue to grow very well. 240w at 90cm seems to be spot on for now. Zkittles by Fastbuds apparently gets top heavy in the first two weeks, and I can see signs of that already, not that is a concern at this stage. Day 4 - Plants continue to grow well and are now between 4-6cm tall. Day 5 - So far so good. I've lowered the lights to 60cm and kept them at 240w. Day 6 - Everything seems to be going well thus far. I think I will give them a small 1/2 strength watering tomorrow. Day 7 - I feed the plants today with a 50% strength solution of the 1 part vegetative nutrient and the roots enhancer. I also added in a full strength feed of Calcium Magnesium additive (even though my nutrient manufacturer says its a little early for CalMag addition), as fastbuds make a point of mentioning that Zkittles has a love for CalMag. The solution had a PH of 6.3, a PPM of 627 and a temp of 24c. I feed 4 of them 750ml each, and the other 5 got 600ml each. They continue to grow well. Summary: I'm happy with week 1 and hope to see a great week 2! Also, I've relented and brought two 18cm oscillating pole-grip fans for each tent as my lab clamp hasn't arrived and just hanging the 40cm fan without oscillation isn't making me happy. I tried to use a 40cm household fan and lab clamps to avoid more expensive purpose built smaller fans, but to be honest, it just wasn't working out, and the fan seemed a bit too strong even on its lowest setting, which is a shame because the cost for the intended setup was about 40% of the cost of the two smaller fans, but oh well, such is life! I think the two fans will give a better air circulation dynamic and be less intense in any given spot as well. It should lend itself to easier changing of the circulation arrangement as well as totally free the groundspace the larger fan might have prevented from being utilised.