Green Demon's on a Highway to Humboldt Heaven

[Green demon]

Hi Guys and Girls, welcome to my Humboldt adventure. Happy to have you all along for this (touch wood) epic ride!

 

I'm Green Demon and I'm called that because my appetite for the herb is comparable to that of a Demons thirst for souls. (A thirst that cannot be quenched!)

 

I just blagged my mum for a few hundred quid to tide me over. Of course my priorities being, well, what they are, I bought an Oz for £180.

So what? Well I'd already blazed my last oz in less than a week. 

 

This oz looked good when he showed it too me, quickly glanced, trust him to supply decent chronic, always has.

 

When I got home I realised too late how mistaken I was. On closer inspection the bud hadn't formed right, it was too airy. 

I assume because the growing conditions were too hot.

It hadn't been dried properly and some of it wasn't even dry. The flavour was as you'd expect and potency? Well, this oz barely lasted half a week.

 

So that's me, broke, empty jars, and on one hell of a mission to never be in this position again.

Happily I could blaze a pound of bud a month. Ideally though I want to get into making Rick Simpson Oil and have enough on hand to treat cancer.

 

None of this can be achieved under a 600w light so I plan to upgrade to a 2m2 flower tent and keep the 1.2m2 tent for veg.

 

Ive seen many reports of 16oz yield off of single lamp 315w CMH setups on a 3x3 footprint. So I was thinking four lamps should be perfect for the space.

Yet Golden Syrup and a few others are using a smaller footprint for the lamps just over 2x2. Which would mean more like nine lamps in my new tent.

 

I plan to go with dimlux and run it all through a controller. So this evening I've been toying with the idea of putting a 1000w in the centre and having a 315w in each corner. That way I've got the HPS as the work horse to provide the weight and the CMH to raise the quality.

 

Anyone with experience please feel free to chime in. I've never gone above 1.2m or 600w, so 400v DE & CMH tech is all pretty space age right now. Sounds bloody good though.

 

I'm loving coco and multiple feeds so drip fed is the next step. My own DIY solution to remove runoff has been to create a drip table (patent pending ).

This has worked well but it is high off the ground so unsuitable for flower. I looked into getting a big NFT or Ebb and flo table with a res underneath but these are 25cm tall and with pots ontop this too is pushing it.

 

I noticed Golden Syrup uses a system to collect and remove runoff and he kindly pointed me in the right direction. It seems amongst others Growell have come up with a solution in their Rhizosystem. Pots sit on a stand that collects run off and feeds it back to a brain res that dumps itself when full either down a drain or into another bucket. Sweet!

 

So thats my now my evolving plan. In veg I have X2 Dinafem Critical Jack & X2 GH Exodus Cheese which can be followed here. 

 

Now the the start of this diary, which will combine my other two Humbodlt diaries  and continue where they left off.

 

HUMBOLDT HEAVEN

 

Right now I have 10 fems in veg with five regs. To guarantee 16 fems for flower I've decided to crack on with the Chocolate Mint OG.

 

A couple have some tiger pattern on them, Homer Drool.

The seeds went into wet kitchen towel. Warm 23 degree tap water ph'd to 5.8

 

The seed tub then went nice a cozy under the T5.

While I was there here are the Chemdawgs

 This tune always makes me feel good. Biggie knew about living through hard times, but ya know what? It's all good baby! 

 

Edited October 11, 2017 by Green demon

[Freax]

I've been sat trying to work out a floor plan for my new groom, I've got about 1.5 x 2.5 m to play with and want to incorporate a work/control area also which would house a small veg tent and mother and clone area too so I've also been looking at the CMH kit and LED stuff too as a way of adding it as supplemental lighting to the groom so this will be interesting to watch as you progress with your adventure.

 

All the best with all them little babies, you're gonna be busy soon.

Take care dude

[Green demon]

Hey Freax how you getting on with your plan? Sounds like a 1000w for flower and 315w cmh for veg would be perfect.

 

I keep chopping and changing and second guessing myself, maybe this or that. Spent the best part of today jotting down calculations  

I can keep my 1.2 tent for veg then I got space for either a 2.4X1.2, 1.5X1.5, or a 2X2. I could fit a 3X1.5 but then I'd only be able to open the door into the room  

 

I've been using a very rough formula to give me an idea on lighting. In terms of watts per square foot some say you reach a point of diminishing returns at 50wpsf. Others say 65 is optimum. Who knows? But as a ball park figure you can multiply the square foot of your canopy by 50/65.

So a 2X2 tent is 50wpsf X 43sqf= 2150w.

 

7 315w = 2205w

             =51wpsf

4 600w = 2400w

             =56wpsqf

1000w + 4 x 315w = 2260w

                              =53wpsf

 

Id go all CMH if it wasn't so expensive. Anyway, enough mathematics, botany time!

Chemdawgs all showing multiple roots so up planting time.

Into 2l pots and fed 0.8 EC, 5.8 ph. Three seeds of CMOG have cracked as I type, hopefully sprouting away through the night.

With the Chems potted up I decided to extend the drip table. The two plastic tables underneath weren't wide enough to support both trays so I cut two lengths of wood that bridge across both ends.

 

The Bubba Kush and Black Dogs all hit their sixth node birthday so I got all medieval on them and chopped off their heads, they were so pretty too.

 

Using Uncle Bens topping technique for four colas.

Wait til seedlings reach sixth node then top above the second true node. The cotyledons don't count as a node, therefore not true.

 

Bubba 3 had a stunted first node 

In this instance I topped above the third true node and removed the foliage from the first node.

The scene below was like a slaughter house. All the plants had to sit, watch and wait while I chopped off their heads. I started to feel a bit guilty.

I made some willow water for rooting hormone but it can also be used as a kick ass foliage spray. Aspirin is a dirivitive of willow and people have had success diluting that at 1:10,000 parts, I think 1 pill per 4 gal. Check before you try thou.

Turned off the HIDs off for a couple of hours, raised the T5 to the roof and gave them all a good drenching!

Edited October 12, 2017 by Green demon

[smokie1 b c f c]

looking fine those are mate. i like the way your training them girls at the back of the tent. 

good to see your planning your new grow properly. 

il pull up a chair for your grow 

all the best with them bro.

oh i put a pic of my superlemon monsters in hippys thread not long ago. about 6 foot tall, way to tall. but there ok now the stretch is over. 

[Green demon]

Thanks Smokie! The three at the back I'm training using Nugbuckets mainlinning method.

Top the plant and leave only one node/pair of branches. These branches are then topped for four colas, and once more for eight.

Ive wanted to try this training style for years but never bothered. It's great for an even canopy, and probably best used with limited head room.

Takes waaaay too long to veg from what I can see to make it worth doing if you aren't restricted by height!

 

Aye matey, Im a tight SOB so if I'm going to spend money to upgrade I wanna work it out best I can! 

Good to have you along for the ride and cheers for the luck bro! Good luck to you too with those monster hazes, they look mahoosive! 

They are going to smell amazing soon. Lemon bud is some of my favourite to smoke, we had a cut of lemon skunk that smelt and tasted like lemon haze, yet flowered in 7 weeks! My bloody mate let the cut die though 

How long do you think they'll take to flower out? ATB bro

[smokie1 b c f c]

they look tidy mate, well done, there be a fair few tops on them soon. im going to give lst training a go myself soon.

i normally just fim /pinch out every top, till i get 8 tops or more. as you say you double up each time you fim/ pinch /top them. i lost count on the amount of times i pinched out every branch on them lemons. left them too long in veg tho as i have been bizzy with my tent/ seed plants. 

they take between 8/ to 9 weeks these super lemons do. i have let them go to 10 weeks. but 9 is the sweet spot for the full on lemon sherbet taste. 

just been and stocked up on munchies/ drinks. forgot the shop last night and been smoking like a rasta all night 

shame about your lemon skunk mate, you will find a better pheno. hell if we have a 420 link up next year il bring cuts to give out of her,she came from london a fair few years back i was told. and she is all over the midlands. 

one love bro. 

[Freax]

Plants are coming along nicely dude.

 

Have you ever used the growroom calculator on here? It's real handy for working out all your basic groom needs.

[Green demon]

 Ive grown a couple of plants that were sat dom and wouldn't stop growing. Had one hit the roof of the tent and still keep going. Such a pain to grow in a small space but worth the damn fine smoke at the end when it's all said and done!

 

The one thing I like about this training method is it produces beefy colas unlike a plant that is topped at say the sixth node which will produce lots of small colas. 

 

The plant only has so much hormone to create a dominant lead/growth tip/cola. Uncle Ben worked out that if you top and only leave two nodes the plant has enough hormone to turn each branch into a dominant cola, producing four big colas instead of one. 

This is how I've always grown but I thought I'd try mainlinning to see what it was like. It's very similar because you only leave one node so the plant has enough hormone to make both branches dominant. They just get topped again to turn the four big colas into 8 slightly smaller ones, or again for 16.

 

Growing under a 1000w, or 600w I think UB wins. Under a 400w, 250w its Nugbuckets. Just my best guess.

 

Smokie you and me both mate. I got to change my flat tyre before I can get to town for food and I know my spare is semi flat too. I predict sparks are gonna fly before I get there  

 

Cheers @Freax bro! Just had a look at that calc, bloody handy! Needs updating to include CMH tho. 

Not sure what formula they use for the extraction, it recommends almost half the size fan growells calc suggests so I'll be happy if it's right!

[Green demon]

Chocolate Mint OGs all popped

Put them in the biodegradable pots with canna coco pro. Fed at .6 EC @ 5.8 ph

[Green demon]

So this morning two Chocolate Mint OGs had popped through the surface.

One seed husk needed removing 

By this afternoon 

B e a utiful! 

[smokie1 b c f c]

glad they popped for you mate. 

i have had to remove a few seed shells myself lately aswell. 

dont normally have to ,but past month of had about 10 do it. some i lost, due to being to heavy handed.

just potted up my em dog, and amherst sour diesels. can't wait for christmas time to smoke some humboldt buds mate, know say your the same bro. 

[HSO-Mark]

Firstly from all at HSO thank you for taking the time to document your HSO grow on UK420. I know how much you have on and your dedication to this "hobby" is admirable 

 

Secondly sorry to read that you've got some bad weed this is never good. Let's get you back on track and back in your own stash asap

You are off to a flying start, great germination rates and very healthy babies 

 

This certainly is going to be another fun one to watch and I'll be along for the ride to see how this grow unfolds 

 

Thank you again for taking the time out of your day to support this new HSO support forum and for running this diary 

 

This is going to be epic 

 

Will be back in on the next update

 

Kind regards 

 

HSO-Mark..

[Michael Luchóg]

You've lost a vocation ,should have been a mathematician ! 

 

Great grow room ,best of luck.

[HSO-Mark]

@Michael LuchógThanks for popping in mate and the support in the new HSO support forum 

 

Did you take part in the seed4diary? 

 

Kind regards 

 

HSO-Mark..

[Green demon]

On 15/10/2017 at 7:46 PM, HSO-Mark said:

One thing that I always keep with me is what my old man used to say

 

When I first started growing well helping my dad he did say  "being a Ganja farmer" requires you to be very creative and you are certainly showing this

 

You have really got creative and produced s simple system that will work for you and your environment 

 

Fast thinking and ingenuity will get you far and thank the wife from us for the donation of the tables to create this run to waist system 

 

Plants look to be very happy brother and growing well

 

Thank you so.much for all the detail added this we know takes time and we are very appreciative of the hard work bring put and and the added pictures very much appreciated!

 

Some great work in this thread and so far a pleasure to watch unfold

 

Will be back in on the next one mate

 

Kind regards 

 

HSO-Mark..

Thanks brother I really appreciate your kind words! I think being skint has actually done me some good, made me think up solutions instead of just buying them premade.

 

 Dedication to the hobby. Or as my wife puts it an obsession. Man what can I say, I love you Mary Jane.

 

Yup the diary is hard work but for free seeds I'm more than game bro, shit it's been awesome just having you guys to chat to. Feels like part of my life was missing up to this point, a connection with growing hommies!

 

Thanks for your support and friendship mate you're a diamond! This Epic grow is all thanks to you!

 

@smokie1 b c f c yeah I've had about a third of my seedlings pop above ground with the husk still attached.

I bury them really shallow though so I expect it. I hate planting seeds deep because it takes days to pop up and sometimes they don't and I get a root grow up instead. So then they need transplanting from upside down to right way up.

I find with the shallow bury they always grow the right way and having spent a good 24hrs already in moist kitchen towel the husks usually fall off with a little nudge.

I do have to be on my best behaviour though, sooo easy to apply to much pressure and Henry the VIII them.

 come xmas time or there abouts there's going to be some very happy stoners thanks to HSO and Mark!

 

Hey @Michael Luchóg thanks for stopping by bro, especially with such compliments! You're welcome round here anytime  Hope Mark gets you sorted!

 

As far as the calculations it seems I was wrong. Not in the calcs but the way in which I was looking at it.

 

Lumens and watts are an outdated way of working out how to light our space. Thanks to Golden Syrup and his many threads on lighting I now have a basic understanding.

 

Watts tells you power, nothing about the spectral quality CRI or intensity. Lumens is just a measurement of how bright a light is to human eyes, it is in fact an irrelevant measurement when it comes to plants and growing.

 

What is important is how many photons are hitting the canopy in the right spectrum, PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) 

PPF total photons emitted per second and PPFD number of photons hitting one square meter per second are expressed as a unit of measurement umol/s and umol/m2s.

 

The one term in lighting we need to familiarise ourselves with is Umol.

 

As an analogy, a lamp/bulb is a cloud that rains light, umol is how hard it's raining. 

Pick a cloud that's too small for your room and the plants will stretch for the rain, pick one too big and your plants drown (bleach, burn)

So there's a sweet spot between 900 to 1200 umol per square meter at canopy. Much more and you'll need co2 too little and yield will suffer.

 

So the difference at canopy can be seen thus. One 315w CMH bulb gives off 600 umol per meter. One grower using one lamp in a one meter square space pulls 450 grams/16oz.

Much more effective than the HPS equivalent one can assume because of the broad spectrum providing the plant with a richer light diet. 

 

Now in comparison Golden Syrup ran 6 x 315w CMH in a 2.4 x 1.2= 2.88m2 tent. So 6 x 600 = 3600 umol total divided by 2.88 gives 1250 per square meter. His total yeild of 68oz divided by 2.88 gives 23.6oz per square meter.

 

So that's the difference between 600 umol and 1250 at canopy. So when designing a new grow room the correct formula is to work out your floor space and multiply the umoles you want at canopy.

 

So 2mx2m tent = 4m2 x 1200

                         = 4800

Now that's the total umol count needed to light the canopy. To use all CMH we simply divide 4800 by the 600 umol of each lamp.

This gives 8 lamps total. So bloody expensive to set up. Leads me to think maybe some cheaper photons are needed.

A 1000w DE gives 2100 umol to the equation. So 4800-2100= 2700/600

                                       =4.5

So a thouie in the centre with four CMH for supplemental lighting will provide optimum amount of umol/m2/s and be a great deal cheaper to purchase.

 

I need a bong now

First day with no baccy yesterday, loving the water pipe, hating the vaping tho.

Ill update some pics later Mrs is looking at me funny