Goodbloke Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 I can't remember the reason I decided to start a diary, the decision was made months ago. Sat here wondering what to type, an unpleasant feeling is nagging me that the underlying & key reason is that I need help. Indulge me for providing some background..... I had a successful first grow, many years ago, using this place to provide a noob with the required info. The help I received along the way was invaluable & I fondly remember the contented feeling of satisfaction that a few full jars produced. The words that best suit my style/method since is probably 'lazy grower', in print that looks negative and harsh and I'm not sure it fits. I'm not a bud connoisseur, I find the discussions on the finer points of taste, smell, and effects mystifying, in much the same way as wine aficionados leave me wondering WTF they are talking about. I'm not particularly interested in strains and breeding or the whole wider aspects of the hobby. I had a space, the kit and the basic ability to produce some smoke I was happy with. Rinse and repeat. That all changed last year. I was using a flexible space in a light-proofed room, growing a couple of plants in a flood & drain with hanging reflective curtains under MH/HPS, passive intake into the room with 4" extraction to outside. Circumstances changed and I was forced to put a tent in the room along with a time restriction that required all the kit to be removed by a quickly approaching date. I knew I needed to get started/finished ASAP or the jars were going to be empty and stay that way for a considerable time. I got my existing gear into the tent, bought some fuck knows what 'fast' strain seeds, and got them going. Many weeks later I ended up with a tent full of rotted buds, entirely my fault for not picking up on the early signs, rot had never been a problem and I didn't have a clue on the telltales. So that is probably the reason for this diary, I really don't want a repeat of that fiasco. There are other reasons which at least feel somewhat more comfortable, I have always enjoyed reading other people's diaries, sort of light entertainment, and hopefully, someone will find something in here worth their time. An easy first decision was to not use some no-name genetics, which coincided with a post from @Seedstockers-Mark, offering free samples for diaries. Despite knowing I would not be able to start for many weeks (I may have also forgotten to mention my last grow was a fucking disaster), Mark provided the Purple Punch. Other than the previously stated reasons to get more experienced eyes than mine to cast an eye on the progress of this effort, I'm also utilising new kit that I have no prior experience of: Budbox Pro 1x1x2 Scopex 350 AC Infinity 6" kit with Controller 67 The tent will extract to outside, where the old HPS and filter would both fit at high level, the filter doesn't fit alongside the Scopex. I discounted a low-level filter position as the passive intake is at that level and despite circulation I had concerns I would be immediately extracting the fresh air. I knocked up an external inline filter in an airtight storage tub as I already had a standard type AC filter and along with the exhaust fan mounted them over the tent. While I was getting set-up, the seeds were planted in 1" Rockwool cubes. Water Background EC 0.78 PH - 8.1 Formulex EC 1.4 PH 5.5 2 x 55W Osram Dulux L daylight @ 400mm 77-80 F 95%+ RH Cheers for taking an interest, all comments gratefully received. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Good luck. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ccs141 Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Good luck man 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shumroom Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 Nice start to the diary @Goodbloke I'll be following along. Atb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodbloke Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 Cheers @MindSoup@Ccs141@Shumroom for taking the time to drop in / follow along, nice to know. WEEK 1 4 of the 5 were showing by day 4, with the 5th 24 hrs later. Polyembryony from 1 of the 5. Very clear that one of the stems was dominant so the other was pinched off. Root growth, quickly protruding from the cubes. Lots of people don't seem to like Rockwool as a medium, I'm fine with it and like the way it performs. Excessive water retention is an issue (This will bite me in the arse very shortly, hence specifically mentioning it), but this is easily managed. Thanks again for taking an interest. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodbloke Posted March 5, 2022 Author Share Posted March 5, 2022 Week 2 100% germination, always nice. At the end of the 1st week they were all transplanted up into 3" cubes. As well as the polyembryonic seed, 1 other showed deformities from the start. I watered as required by weight assessment, continuing with Formulex, aiming for 1.0EC and allowing for 50% of the dead water content, giving an EC reading of of 1.4. PH of water/feed 5.5. Lighting unchanged. Easy to choose the 4 to progress onwards. Roots soon taking over the larger cubes, so I pulled my finger out & finished the tent setup. Stay safe all & as always, thanks for stopping by. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Beautiful roots mate. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaijin Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Following along Good luck with the grow, mate 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seedstockers-Mark Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 You look to be of to an amazing start mate Can't wait to see what you can do with our genetics Good luck Kind regards Mark.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodbloke Posted March 24, 2022 Author Share Posted March 24, 2022 Week 3 Made the first noticeable mistake, noticeable to me that is, others may think everything so far could be described as such. This mistake had a visual effect though, so one we can agree on, the seedlings soon let me know they weren't happy. I had a free few hours and decided to spend them on the grow and get a few tasks done and out the way. A far superior method to me having the time would be when the plants are ready for whatever the planned operation is and not jumping ahead..... I transplanted the 3" cubes into the system prior to there being sufficient root growth out of the cube and a day later had unhappy droopy seedlings with wet-foot. I changed the timer to not flood during lights off and manually removed some of the water from the cubes allowing oxygen in. I flood and immediately drain every 3 hours, usually letting this continue through lights off, same frequency as usual just no flood during lights off. Will probably continue with this, vaguely remember having no flood during lights off previously and not noticing any difference. Had some associated yellowing of the lower leaves and they all perked up nicely over the next couple of days. I'm going to add a few words about various bits of kit that I use, a user review of sorts, might help someone out and at least gives me something to chat about whilst waiting for my next fuckup to materialise. No name PH Meter Under £5 from the bay. Can't remember why I bought this, must have been some temporary issue with whatever meter I was using and needed a quick cheap backup. I calibrated it in buffer 7 and vaguely remember it also being there abouts in buffer 4/4.1 I recalibrated after digging it out and have run it in tandem alongside something a bit more confidence inspiring and it's a match. Recommended? Yeah, why not, useful to have a backup, particularly one at this price that you've got some confidence is accurate enough. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodbloke Posted April 1, 2022 Author Share Posted April 1, 2022 Only minor issue with early veg was struggling to reach an adequate RH with the plants being so small. After previous mostly fruitless fafs with wet towels and trays of water etc I got myself a humidifier, problem solved. Switched to Canna Aqua Vega & turned main light on. Tap water: PH 8ish EC 0.7ish EC1.4/1.5 PH 6.0 Potassium Silicate 6% slowly increased over the weeks to full hard water dose, 0.5ml/l RH 70% Temps 27 / 24 lights on/off Scopex 350 @150w Height 30" 27 days above ground - Topped 36 days above ground Scrog mesh installed 8" above pebbles 41 days above ground Light 220w @ 26" above screen 18/6 As the veg continued it quickly became apparent that the 2 plants at the top of the picture (above) were denser & stockier than the other two. They've been slower filling the screen, wonder if this is a coincidence or the oil rad position having something to do with it? They look so forlorn after a tucking session, but as usual soon right themselves. After my previous dedication in producing a tent full of budrot, extraction was something I looked at prior to this run. The existing 4" RVK was replaced with a shiny new 6" AC Infinity kit with a C67. During set-up the air whistling through the keyhole in the door to the very small tent room when the ACInf was at the higher end of its settings suggested that a proper intake into the room (I extract to outside air) should be a good idea. Using the RVK seemed obvious enough so I cut a 4" hole through the wall into the living area of the house and fitted a 4" grill with filter material in a suitable position on that side. Ducting in the groom and stuck the RVK on the end. Bloody hell, what a racket. The noise in the living area of the air being pulled into the grill bordered on 'alarming'. The Xpelair WAC1 fan speed controller repeatedly popped up during searches for something safe and suitable for controlling the RVK. Sprinkled amongst the posts from people who had tried it were a few reporting problems, but the price compared to a 4" ACInf that I could have plugged into the 67 it seemed worth a go. A couple of cable glands are required and to keep mine easily demountable I used a short single gang extension lead to provide a plug on the input and a socket on the out. The wiring is simple and straightforward with the connections clearly marked on the board. After an hours fiddling I ended up with this: Using position 2 as the minimum setting the controller works perfectly on my fan. No hum and the difference between each setting 2-5 seems nice and linear. Very happy. As usual, thanks for taking the time. I'm off to gently cry over my new energy payments. Stay safe. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
growinggold Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 @Goodbloke big up the wac1 I've got two on the go as we speak. Nice budget bit of kit. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machiavelli Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 Love the setup and great diary, ill be watching, i run a similar ssize tent and extract outside same way, love the hanging net idea too and the trusty old wac1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seedstockers-Mark Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 @Goodbloke Thanks for adding as much info as you can mate Makes for a great read Keep the updates coming Kind regards Mark.. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samhigh Posted April 27, 2022 Share Posted April 27, 2022 On 4/1/2022 at 3:46 AM, Goodbloke said: Stay safe. hows the punch coming along brother bloke, looking forward to seeing the screen of green sam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now