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This was the second attempt to germinate an OG Kush Auto seed. The first seed did not germinate. Seed was soaked for 24 hours in water then put under wet paper towel for 2 days. Germinated seed was planted in soaked rapid rooter and placed in seedling tray with lid. 15000 LUX Full Spectrum LED Grow Light right above cover once sprouted. Ready to transplant after 8 days from seed. Mixed 50/50 Miracle Grow potting soil and Miracle Grow Garden Soil in 7 gallon grow bags. Added Summit Responsible Solutions Mosquito Bits into the top 3 inches of the grow bag soil to control any gnats and other insects that may infest below ground
Transplanted OG Kush seedling into 7 gallon grow bag. Watered around plant with 24 oz distilled water. Set drippers 1" from plant. Drippers on 30 seconds every 5 hours cycle. Using only blue lights (veg) at 34 inches from soil for 18 hours a day.
One cotyledon leaf is bent over the center of seedling but does not appear to be affecting growth. Overall, the seedling looks healthy after the first week.
Dehumidifier tank was full. 1200w grow light was switched to full spectrum. Moved 2 smaller 100w Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights about 4 inches from plant on each side. Emptied dehumidifier tank no nutrients to be added until tank fills. Soil should still have enough nutrients. Soil moisture is still high. Increased dripper interval to 6 hours. Misted plant twice per day.
Saw good growth this week. Looks like it's coming out of the seedling stage.
Went back to adding a light amount of nutrients this week. Two tsp of Fox Farms Big Bloom and 2 tsp of Fox Farms Grow Big. Nutrients were added to a full dehumidifier reservoir and expected to last the week of watering from the drippers (about 2 gallons per week for 3 plants being watered). Soil moisture is still a little high. Increased dripper interval from 6 hours to 7 hours. Soil moisture was pretty much perfect by the end of the week. Temps in the grow room are remaining consistent at 72 deg F. lights off and 78 degrees when lights are on. Humidity got away from me (65%) when lights were off (cooler temps). Was letting the dehumidifier fill and shut off because the nutrients were in the dehumidifier reservoir. The dehumidifier is currently pulling more water from the air than 3 plants need. Began removing about 1/4 of the water from the dehumidifier reservoir every day and humidity came back under control in the 45% range with lights on and 50% range when lights off. Will need a scheme for adding nutrients to the tank reservoir while still removing water every day. Still using 2 100w (22w each actual) full spectrum LED on two sides as well as the 1200w LED full spectrum from the top.
Plant is still short, but really starting to add foliage at the beginning of the week. Taking on a deep green in the leaves. I'm not seeing anything that has me worried.
Soil moisture has come in perfect over last week. Will be keeping a closer eye on the dehumidifier this week not letting the reservoir fill up. Target humidity in the grow room is between 47% and 52%. this week. I rotated the plant 90 deg. clock wise to ensure even light. Still have two 100w full spectrum gooseneck grow lights on either side of the plant as well as the 1200w above. Now that the plant is growing healthy I misted with Sevin Insect Killer. The plan is light misting once a week for a couple weeks until flowering. There are no signs of insects on the plants. It is preventative.
Odor control is becoming an issue because the plants are maturing and the grow room is open on top. There is a three stage HEPA air purifier in the grow room (rated to 200 sq ft) that has activated charcoal in stage 2, but that will not be enough. I ran an ozone generator for 30 minutes outside the grow room and it took care of the problem so far. I'm not worried so much about the ozone generator because it is in an unfinished basement where no people or pets go and it is not being run in the grow room itself. My plan is to run the ozone generator once per week or if the odor becomes overpowering. I also placed some Ona Gel Pro in a coffee can with holes punched in the lid outside the grow room. I also hung one Earth Care Janitorial and Industrial Odor remover in the grow room. With only 3 plants in the grow room and the basement being somewhat isolated from the rest of the house I don't anticipate odors to be a problem in the living areas. We will see.
Overall, the OG Kush is really coming on strong. It is definitely out of the seedling stage. It is 11 days behind the other two plants in the grow room, but looks healthy. All the leaves are a deep green. There is no evidence of disease, bugs, or stress. The leaves are really wide on this plant and they are coming in very dense. I assume it has something to do with the strain. Topped the plant this week. Probably won't start LST on this plant until next week. Topping didn't seem to phase it at all.
Soil was about right at the start of the week. However, the two other plants hooked up to the dripper were dry. Reduced watering frequency from 30 seconds every 7 hours to 30 seconds every 6 hours. Added small amount of nutrients to water. Started using Tiger Bloom (just 1 tsp per gallon). I don't expect this one to be in flower until next week, but the other two hooked to the dripper are. The soil moisture content was running a little low by the end of the week. Placed a bigger air purifier in the grow room. This one is rated for 840 sq ft. Should be plenty for a 24 sq ft room. Ran ozone generator for 10 minutes (20 feet away from grow room) at beginning of week. Added more Ona Gel to the coffee can outside the grow room. Spray a few spritzes of Fresh Wave outside the grow room. There is a faint smell in the basement where the grow room is located. at the beginning of the week. No smell at all through the rest of the house. There was virtually no smell in the basement where the grow room is located by the end of the week. Plant was turned 90 degrees clockwise at the beginning of the week to ensure even lighting. Use LST on the main stem... just a slight amount to even the canopy. Plant was lightly misted with Sevin bug killer at the beginning of the week as a preventive measure. Removed all LST wires on the plant at end of week. Plant is adequately trained. No other grow techniques are planned for this plant.
This plant continues to look good. Getting bushier. It doubled in height last week. It has a very even canopy with multiple bud sites by the end of the week. Next week will be the first full week of flowering.
Raised grow lights from 30" to 34" above soil. Soil moisture was low by the end of last week. Reduced dripper interval from 30 seconds every 6 hours to 30 seconds every 5 hours. Checked dripper and it is still pumping fine. Rotated the plant 90 degrees clockwise. Added more Ona Gel to the coffee can outside the grow room. Ran Ozone generator for 15 minutes 20 feet away from the grow room. Smell in grow area is still only faint with all the odor control techniques being used.
This plant looks really good. This is the first full week of flowering. Soil was a little dry by mid week. Added 12 oz of nutrient water on top of water coming from the dripper. Plant still looks very good.
By the end of the week a total of 36 oz of water was added on top of what comes out of the dripper. Moved feed to dripper into a bucket instead of dehumidifier reservoir to better control nutrients. Plant looks good. No issues. Trichomes are clear. All pistils are still white. Probably 3 weeks from harvest.
Plant has been a little thirsty. Decreased dripper frequency from 30 seconds every 5 hours to 30 seconds every 4 hours. Rotated the pot 90 degrees clockwise to ensure even lighting. Flowers are still fairly immature but they are filling out. It looks to be at least 4 weeks out until harvest. Overall, this plant looks very good.
Mid week update: This plant has become very thirsty. Soil moisture was running low early in the week. Added 62 oz of water in 2 days on top of what the dripper is delivering. There is no sign of distress. The buds are filling out, but still very immature. Pistils are still white. This plant doesn't appear to have a main cola. All flowers are growing in at about the same rate. I think the topping and LST back on weeks 4 & 5 worked.
I didn't get to this until midweek. Humidity was higher than I like and Soil moisture was low. Rotated this plant 90 degrees clockwise to ensure even light. Added 48 oz of water on top of what the drippers are delivering. Drippers were also moved 90 degrees to ensure even soil moisture. Humidity was lowered to 45%. There were a few yellowing leaves removed from the bottom of the plant.
The tips of some of the fan leaves are turning brown with some curling. Water pH is good, soil pH should be good so I'm assuming the nutrients may be a little much. Began with pH'ed water only in the dripper. Will be adding water only with no nutrients for the rest of the week. Plant is still very bushy with many green fan leaves. Pistils are all still white and the trichomes are clear. This plant still has three or four weeks until harvest.
By the end of the week the buds are clearly still immature. The pistils are still mostly white, but about 80% of the trichomes are milky. The buds are not filled out. This plant still has about 3 weeks before harvest. Will watch trichomes closely.
Plant was showing signs of nutrient burn on the leaf tips. Discontinued nutrients. Adding 6.2 pH water only through the dripper. I will most likely not add any more nutrients for the duration. There has been little height growth so I assume the plant is in full flower now. I switched the overhead lights to red only. Still using two full spectrum gooseneck lamps as well. The overhead lights were lowered. Overall, I want the plants to receive plenty of light, but I also want the temperature in the 75 degree range with lights on. The light schedule was switched to 12 hours. Turning off the blue light has brought the temps in the grow room down from about 80 degrees to about 75 degrees. Humidity in the room was brought down to 45% until harvest. Even though this is an auto-flower, the goal is to get the best conditions for the buds to fatten up now.
Just like at the beginning of every week, the plant was rotated 90 degrees clockwise to ensure even light on the plant. The plant is looking good. the buds are still immature and the pistils are still mostly white. The trichomes are turning milky. I think there is still three more weeks until harvest.
By mid week soil was a little too moist. Dripper frequency was increased from 30 seconds every 4 hours to 30 seconds every 6 hours. Leaves are starting to yellow a little bit on the bottom. Removed some yellow leaves. Buds look good. Flushing with water at 6.2 pH and 17 ppm total dissolved solids. No more nutrients will be added until harvest. Focus is solely on bud growth now.
End of week: The leaves on the bottom are starting to yellow. They will be removed as they turn color. Probably not much I can do about the nutrient burn. The miracle grow soil I used has time released nutrients (nitrogen). It is a race between the leaf damage and bud growth now. I don't anticipate it causing any problems. The buds should mature well before the leaves get too damaged. The next grow in this soil should do much better once the nutrients in the soil are used up. Still looking at 1 to two weeks until harvest.
This plant is doing well. There is nutrient burn probably due to the time released nutrients in the soil. The plant is being flushed with 6.1 to 6.3 pH water. There are no more nutrients being added. Humidity is being controlled well between 40% and 50%. Temperature in the grow room is holding between 70 and 75 degrees F. Soil moisture is optimum. The overhead light is set to red light only. The gooseneck lights are still full spectrum, The only focus right now is just letting the buds fatten up.
Beginning of week: I am removing other fan leaves as they yellow. The trichomes are starting to turn milky and the pistils are turning a golden color. It still looks like this plant is about 2 to 3 weeks from harvest.
Mid week: Leaves are still turning. Pistils are mostly white. Trichomes are mostly clear, Just waiting for buds to ripen.
End of week: Removed a few more yellowing leaves. Soil moisture is about perfect. The plant is still taking in water. Humidity has been holding between 40% and 47%. Buds are fattening up. A few more cloudy trichomes are coming in. More pistils are starting to turn brown. I think this will be ready to harvest in two more weeks.
Beginning of week: Rotated the plant 90 degrees clockwise. Soil moisture is right where I want it. Humidity is holding between 40% and 48%. Temperature is staying between 68 and 77 degrees F. The overhead lights are still set to red only. Still using the 2 full spectrum gooseneck LED for additional light. No nutrients are being added.
There are still about 70% white pistils. About 10% of the trichomes are cloudy. None are amber. I will probably harvest this one in two weeks. More leaves are yellowing every day. The leaves are removed as they become completely yellow. The plant is still taking up water. The buds are still getting fat.
Mid week: Everything looks good. Still two weeks to harvest.
End of week: Not much went on this week. Buds fattened up. No nutrients have been added for 3 weeks. Removing leaves as they yellow. This plant will be harvested tomorrow. It doesn't need another week. It is ready.
The first seed did not germinate. Since this is my first time growing I have no point of reference, The growing conditions were tightly controlled. I had no issues with the seed that germinated.
Wet trimmed the buds and put them in a drying rack. The drying environment is 70 degrees F with 45% humidity. Trimmed a little more after dry. Place in sanitized mason jars for cure.
Cure was 2 months in a mason jar at about 59% humidity. Burped daily for the first 3 weeks. About once a week by week 8. The buds smell earthy and sweet. Very different.
The smoke was very smooth. Tastes are subtle. A the high from a one hitter is pretty intense. It lasts for about 2 hours (loaded once). I like it. It's very rewarding to just grow your own.... and it's legal.
Grow Room
The grow room is made from ¾” Schedule 40 PVC Pipe frame. Corrugated cardboard boxes lined with black duct tape on the outside and Vivosun Horticulture Highly Reflective Mylar Film (Roll 4’ X 50’ 2 Mil for $32) inside adhered to the cardboard with two-sided carpet tape. The cardboard panels were mounted to the frame using zip ties. Reflective mylar was also placed on the floor of the room. There are two shower curtains hung on front with a white shower curtain facing inside and a black shower curtain to the outside. The white shower curtain should reflect some light back into the room with the black shower curtain absorbing any light getting through the white curtain. It is literally PVC pipe, cardboard, duct tape, wire ties, and a couple shower curtains. Since the room is in a dark unfinished basement it is open at the top (about 1 ft head space to ceiling). This should allow for adequate ventilation without the need for separate exhaust. See the Air/ Temperature Control section. The room is 4’ x 6’ but can be easily expanded with little investment. The room cost about $70 to build. It can be expanded to 12’ x 4’ for an additional $20.
Moisture Control and Watering
Humidity in the room is controlled by a Vremi 3,000 Sq. Ft. Dehumidifier ($280) for the 700 Sq. Ft basement where the grow area is located. The dehumidifier sits just outside the grow room. A Moistenland Automatic Drip Irrigation System ($48) is fed directly from the dehumidifier reservoir. Both duration and interval of watering is controlled. The ¼” dripper line feeds through the wall of the grow room. The moisture collected out of the air is used to automatically water the plants. No other water source is used. The water from the dehumidifier is about 6.1 pH with 65 ppm total dissolved solids (before nutrients). Nutrients are added directly to the dehumidifier reservoir each week as required. The dehumidifier is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized between each grow… including the filters. See Air/ Temperature Control for how mold and bacteria are controlled.
Air/ Temperature Control
The grow area is in a 700 sq ft unfinished basement. The home HVAC system is also in this space. The temperature remains consistent between 70 and 75 deg F. (21-24 deg C.) outside the grow room. Inside the grow room remains between 70 to 80 deg F (21-27 deg C.) depending on the time of day and whether the lights are running. There is about an 8-degree difference between lights on and lights off. There is no need for extra temperature controls. There is a Pure Enrichment PureZone Air Purifier - True HEPA Filter ($100) with a 3-stage filter that includes activated charcoal to reduce odors. The filter is rated for 200 sq ft so it should be enough for the 24 sq ft in the grow room. The air purifier is placed on the floor. It brings in air from the grow room blowing the filtered air up from the top of the unit. The fan in the purifier is set on high and expected to be the only thing needed to move air, eliminate mold and bacteria, and provide odor control in the room. The air purification filter is changed out for each grow. Again, the top of the grow room is open, so ventilation should not be a problem. I have a coffee can with hole punch in the lid Ona Gel Pro inside to help control oder along with a Earth Care Janitorial and Industrial Odor remover hung inside the room.
Lighting
The 6’ x 4’ grow room has 2 WHOSLED LED 1200W (230w actual) Dual Switch Dual Chip Plant Lamps ($110 ea) attached to floor joists above the room with a nylon rope. They have blue, red, and full spectrum settings. They can be easily adjusted for height. There are also 2 Relassy 200w (45w actual) Full Spectrum Grow Lamp, Dual Head Gooseneck Plant Lights ($30 ea) used. Put another way, there are 4 100w full spectrum LED that can direct light as needed under the plant canopy. All lights are connected to a timer. Light cycle matches natural day/ night cycle.
Soil and Planting
The first grow with this setup is 3 autoflower plants (Bubblegum, Jack Herer, and OG Kush). A 6’ x 4’ grow room is plenty of room for 3 plants. They are planted in JERIA 7 Gallon, Plant Grow Bags (12 for $26) with Hydrofarm 14” plant saucers (10 for $41) under them. The soil is a 50/50 mix of Miracle Grow Potting Soil and Miracle Grow Garden Soil. About 2 oz of Summit Mosquito Bits - Quick Kill (30 oz for $17) was incorporated into the top 3 inches of soil in each grow bag. This should control gnats and other soilborne insects. Plants were started in rapid rooter and seedling trays for the first 10 days before being transplanted directly to the 7 gallon grow bags.
Monitoring Grow Conditions
There are several parameters being monitored during the grow. Soil moisture and light are measured using a Kensizer Soil Tester ($14). The soil mixture used is known to have a 6.5 pH so the water pH is monitored using a Vivosun High Accuracy Pen Type pH Meter ($10). A General Hydroponics pH test kit ($23 includes pH Up and pH Down) is also used for the water pH to ensure accuracy. A Vivosun TDS sensor ($10) is also used on the water. Temperature and humidity inside the grow room are monitored using a Govee Indoor Temperature Humidity Sensor with Bluetooth ($13).
Nutrients
The watering schedule is about 12 oz per day per plant. It will fluctuate between 10 and 15 oz per day depending on soil moisture measurements. For 3 plants that comes out to about 2 gallons per week. Since the fresh soil mixture already has nutrients, the liquid nutrients are added directly to the dehumidifier reservoir once per week at about ¼ recommended strength. Fox Farm Big Bloom, Grow Big, and Tiger Bloom are used per the ratios recommended for growth stage. Used the Fox Farm Feeding Schedule as a guide (1/4 of recommended amount).
Overall Comments
There should be good control on grow room temperature and humidity. There is probably enough light for a grow room twice the size… or twice the plants using about 2800w LED total (600w actual usage). Light leaks are naturally controlled by being in a basement room with no windows and light schedule follows actual day/ night hours (the first grow is all autoflower anyway). The air in the room is purified with good ventilation. Watering is fully automatic with proper pH water and nutrients are added per schedule. The soil is the proper pH starting out in is protected against insects.
Grow room temperature and humidity is continuously monitored and charted via Bluetooth. Soil moisture is monitored daily and controlled through automated dripper settings. Light intensity is monitored and controlled via adjustable lighting. Water pH is measured daily using a probe and titrated weekly to verify accuracy. Total dissolved solids in the water with nutrients is measured daily. The grow journals for each plant can be found here.
Jerry101
