Hi all, grab a brew… it’s a fairly hefty hello…
I attempted a few photo grows in my late teens/early twenties with some success but with a lack of patients they weren’t the best yielders. Some twenty years later and quite a few life changes in between and here I am trying once more.
I've been lurking around for a few weeks now, "permanently borrowing" all the titbits of knowledge I can get my grubby little hands on for my new project. BIG
to @Slater, @Hansbricks, @pop22, @Screwauger and everyone else on AFN who have helped me on my quest unknowingly.
So a bit about the grow etc...
I only spend around 6 weeks a year in blighty (Oh yeah... from SW UK
) and wanted to automatize a system as much as I could; so my garden carer (sibling) had minimal interaction yet maximum yield (an easy to maintain garden). An experiment you might say to help my sibling get top quality sticky nugs-of-love with minimal exposure to the less savoury folk in town. With the added bonus of knowing exactly what went into them and what’s going into us!
So after hours of research I devised a setup I thought would solve our conundrum:
1 x Grow tent: 120x120x200
6 x 15ltr AutoPot system with AirDomes and 1 x air stone in res.
2 x ViparSpectra V600
RVK extractor with Rhino Pro filter and acoustic ducting
1 x oscilating monkey fan
Thermometer c/w hygrometer
IP camera
I explained to my local shop about my restrictions and want for simplicity and they suggested going with the following nutrients:
Canna base nutes A&B
CX Regen-a-root
CX Mighty bloom
I constructed the tent, fitted the extraction, lights, mounted the camera, set the trays and put the seeds in to germ. For the first run we chose six different strains. Mainly because we wanted to see which smoke was appropriate for weekends and/or the working week (gigglers/couchers). Oh and of course… which had the greatest yield…
To assist my garden carer I set a plum-bob from one of the lights with a knot at 24” and the bottom of the weight at 30”. That way they could keep the canopy between the two.
We bought from the lovely chaps at the Vault. Delivery was fast and discreet and they threw in a couple of freebies.
Greenhouse Seed Co. - Big Bang
FastBuds - Girl Scout Cookies
FastBuds - Gorilla Glue
Barneys Farm - Blue Mammoth
Free:
Royal Queen Seeds - Northern Lights
Heavyweight Seeds - Auto Jackpot
After countless hours on the forum we decided the best medium option was coco and perlite 60/40 with clay pebbles lining the bottom of the pots (not covering the AirDomes). The pots were soaked and drained with pH5.8 water, lights turned on (both veg and bloom) and the seeds were sowed.
The first two weeks were torture. BB and BM hadn’t sprouted, so I dug gently and… we’d over watered, soggy seeds! Rooky mistake. So we quickly put another of each on to germinate, this time with success!
Three weeks in, the first res was filled with A&B and RaR (EC 1.4 at pH6.2) and the AutoPots and AirDomes were turned on. BB and BM were correctly watered for two weeks this time until the AutoPots took hold. (Nice lesson for next time… Turn on res around day17/18).
Now came the waiting game… watching from overseas on the IP camera while instructing my garden carer when required. Which as it turned out was only about twice a week so the hands off approach was working.
Today is day 51 since the seeds were put into germ. Since the start of the grow I’ve learnt a lot but mainly:
Don’t over water at the start.
Don’t turn both veg and bloom on the lights from the start and only use one light so they stretch more. You’ll see shortly that the girls are a tad on the stunted side…
Leave water to stand for minimum 24hrs... we had a period of trouble selling the pH. Stable at 5.8 now.
And... invest in Calmag for the next run.
Two questions I have are thus: I opened the vent at the bottom of the tent (left side of camera) but not the right. You can see the girls on the left are much bigger.
Do you think this is because of the proximity to the fresh air intake?
Should I open both sides half way next run?
Thanks for reading and good luck to all on their grows.
This is the last 14 days:
Ooh... girls in clockwise order from the madam bottom left:
Blue Mammoth
Gorilla Glue
Girl Scout Cookies
Jackpot
Northern Lights
Big Bang
I attempted a few photo grows in my late teens/early twenties with some success but with a lack of patients they weren’t the best yielders. Some twenty years later and quite a few life changes in between and here I am trying once more.
I've been lurking around for a few weeks now, "permanently borrowing" all the titbits of knowledge I can get my grubby little hands on for my new project. BIG
to @Slater, @Hansbricks, @pop22, @Screwauger and everyone else on AFN who have helped me on my quest unknowingly.So a bit about the grow etc...
I only spend around 6 weeks a year in blighty (Oh yeah... from SW UK
) and wanted to automatize a system as much as I could; so my garden carer (sibling) had minimal interaction yet maximum yield (an easy to maintain garden). An experiment you might say to help my sibling get top quality sticky nugs-of-love with minimal exposure to the less savoury folk in town. With the added bonus of knowing exactly what went into them and what’s going into us!So after hours of research I devised a setup I thought would solve our conundrum:
1 x Grow tent: 120x120x200
6 x 15ltr AutoPot system with AirDomes and 1 x air stone in res.
2 x ViparSpectra V600
RVK extractor with Rhino Pro filter and acoustic ducting
1 x oscilating monkey fan
Thermometer c/w hygrometer
IP camera
I explained to my local shop about my restrictions and want for simplicity and they suggested going with the following nutrients:
Canna base nutes A&B
CX Regen-a-root
CX Mighty bloom
I constructed the tent, fitted the extraction, lights, mounted the camera, set the trays and put the seeds in to germ. For the first run we chose six different strains. Mainly because we wanted to see which smoke was appropriate for weekends and/or the working week (gigglers/couchers). Oh and of course… which had the greatest yield…
To assist my garden carer I set a plum-bob from one of the lights with a knot at 24” and the bottom of the weight at 30”. That way they could keep the canopy between the two.
We bought from the lovely chaps at the Vault. Delivery was fast and discreet and they threw in a couple of freebies.
Greenhouse Seed Co. - Big Bang
FastBuds - Girl Scout Cookies
FastBuds - Gorilla Glue
Barneys Farm - Blue Mammoth
Free:
Royal Queen Seeds - Northern Lights
Heavyweight Seeds - Auto Jackpot
After countless hours on the forum we decided the best medium option was coco and perlite 60/40 with clay pebbles lining the bottom of the pots (not covering the AirDomes). The pots were soaked and drained with pH5.8 water, lights turned on (both veg and bloom) and the seeds were sowed.
The first two weeks were torture. BB and BM hadn’t sprouted, so I dug gently and… we’d over watered, soggy seeds! Rooky mistake. So we quickly put another of each on to germinate, this time with success!
Three weeks in, the first res was filled with A&B and RaR (EC 1.4 at pH6.2) and the AutoPots and AirDomes were turned on. BB and BM were correctly watered for two weeks this time until the AutoPots took hold. (Nice lesson for next time… Turn on res around day17/18).
Now came the waiting game… watching from overseas on the IP camera while instructing my garden carer when required. Which as it turned out was only about twice a week so the hands off approach was working.
Today is day 51 since the seeds were put into germ. Since the start of the grow I’ve learnt a lot but mainly:
Don’t over water at the start.
Don’t turn both veg and bloom on the lights from the start and only use one light so they stretch more. You’ll see shortly that the girls are a tad on the stunted side…
Leave water to stand for minimum 24hrs... we had a period of trouble selling the pH. Stable at 5.8 now.
And... invest in Calmag for the next run.
Two questions I have are thus: I opened the vent at the bottom of the tent (left side of camera) but not the right. You can see the girls on the left are much bigger.
Do you think this is because of the proximity to the fresh air intake?
Should I open both sides half way next run?
Thanks for reading and good luck to all on their grows.
This is the last 14 days:
Ooh... girls in clockwise order from the madam bottom left:
Blue Mammoth
Gorilla Glue
Girl Scout Cookies
Jackpot
Northern Lights
Big Bang
sounds like you off to a good start 
pics dont work 
im archie gemmill 
your butlins blue coat hi de high site rep 
a few things well worth a read.
Good luck with your grow! 
