# Let's try it again.  Hopefully Life wont get in the way again.



## CasualGrower (Apr 24, 2008)

Hey Guys,
Well CG is back and at it again.  Life sorta got in the way of the last grow, my mother got sick and has since passed, so in the meantime the garden got neglected.   Out of the 15 or so clones i had going on the last grow, I lost all but 2 of them that managed to stay alive.  At least I did not lose the strain.  I had lost most of them due to low water levels in the res which was sitting too low for the small pump to raise the water the extra distance and had a few clogged drippers.

Well I made myself a bubble style cloner and took 15 more cuttings.  Added a lil Liquid Karma and stuck them in and sat back......Finally about a week and a half later I am seeing roots.   Well I got stuck into a project and had to put off moving them into their new home until tonite...Roots are now 10-12 inches long heh.

The Girls new homes are 5 gallon Home De-Pot buckets with holes in the lids for a 5 inch net pot.  The system is a Deep Water Culture system being driven by a rather large air pump heh.... the pump is pushing MORE than enough air for 12 buckets heh.  I put 6 of them in the buckets tonite and will have to get the rest in a couple days, also I am ordering a second 400 Watt HPS tonite seeing as one will certainly NOT be enough for 12, 5 gallon buckets.   

I also moved the growing location from an upstairs bedroom to the basement seeing as my upstairs gets pretty hot and two of those lights would get it cooking pretty well.  I am still using upstairs for cloning and mothers though....

Now for the water conditions.  I use tap water for all my hydro.. I know some of you are cringing now, but it has worked well for me in the past.  

Tap water TDS:  138 PPM and PH is 5.8ish
Added a small amount of liquid karma to each bucket... about a TBSP in each... no big change in TDS

I also added Botanicare Pure Blend Grow and brought the TDS up to 450-500 PPM.... that is a lil low, but I wanna start the ladies out nice and easy.

I do not have pics as of this moment but will post them this weekend some time as I have to go to work tonite and dont really have the time for it right now.

Wish me luck and pull up a chair and lets see if I can grow in a tub of water.  8)

Take Care.


----------



## snuggles (Apr 24, 2008)

Sorry to hear about your mother, I lost mine a little while ago too. I kinda know how it feels, I hope you and your family are OK and wish you all the best. There's nothing in this world like a good mother.

Looks like you have some new plans. I love that you use Botanicare, I like it bunches. I also have some of the same setups with the HD buckets. A new 400? How big is the area? You might want more light for 12 of them. Doing a Sog? How long are you vegging?


Once again I am sorry to hear of your loss and wish you the best...I'm not religious but I will keep a soft spot in my heart open for your family.

Best of luck and I can't wait to see some pics and some plants.


----------



## smokybear (Apr 24, 2008)

Hi there. We are all sorry for your loss and you have our condolences. It sounds like you have a plan in motion. A 400 would be ok for a sog with that many plants. Going to get really crowded if you veg for too long though. I would go straight to 12/12 with the 12 clones. Just my thoughts. I hope to see you around the forums. Keep us posted. I will be watching. Take care and be safe.


----------



## CasualGrower (Apr 25, 2008)

Thank you all for the condolences.  Her passing was expected but actually came a lot quicker than expected.  

Yea, there is gonna be a pair of 400 watt HPS lights, got one I been using... I am just expanding a lil bit 8).  Gonna put 6 under each light.  I originally thought about putting 2 plants per bucket, but I did not trust myself enough to hand cut the lids for 2 net pots each.  One lil slip and it wont have the strength to hold up the plants.... I plan on vegging them for maybe 6 weeks or so, maybe a lil longer.

I am starting them off on the botanicare line for this grow basically to finish up old stock of supplies... I will keep using the liquid karma though but i will switch to Fox Farms Grow, Big Bloom And Tiger for flower.... I think that is what I bought before the last grow ended abruptly, I will have to dig them out to make sure.  I liked the botanicare line, but just trying something a lil different if for nothing else but so I can judge for myself which ones I like better.


----------



## CasualGrower (Apr 25, 2008)

Hey snuggles, the buckets you got from Home De-Pot..... are they the orange ones?  the HD's in my area only had those, I went all over town looking for darker buckets and the only place that had them were Worm's Way and I refuse to pay that much for a bucket heh... I am curious if they let too much light in to the root zone or if you have had any algae problems.... I am hoping it blocks enough, but if not I will wrap them in black poly.


----------



## headband (Apr 25, 2008)

CasualGrower said:
			
		

> there is gonna be a pair of 400 watt HPS lights


...


----------



## benamucc (Apr 25, 2008)

Hey CG!  Welcome back.  Sorry to hear about the loss.  See you around...


----------



## CasualGrower (Apr 27, 2008)

As promised, it is Sunday and here are a few pics.... sorry about the HPS Glow.... There is a filter on this camera to  take care of that, but I forgot how to turn it on, so I will play with the camera and figure it out for the next set.   

The tent I set up is in the basement and I am gonna get some mylar for the walls.  The Temp is running about 70 degrees and the humidity is 50ish.  There is plenty of new growth already and the girls are looking like they are happy

A couple other pics in there are of the cloner I made.  Basically 2 plastic tubs, one dark and one clear.  The lids are glued together  so it has it's own Humidity dome, 8).   The clones in the front are those that are waiting for their buckets and the 7 or so in the back are new cuttings I put in there the other night.  There is also a picture of the rootmass that they have put out in the cloner, those girls will have their own bucket tomorrow and the second light should be in this week sometime.

And last but not least, is a pic of mom ).  she still has


----------



## Melissa (Apr 29, 2008)

*sorry to hear about your loss eace: i love your cloner and set up good luck :48:*


----------



## CasualGrower (Apr 30, 2008)

Wednesday April, 30 2008.... 4 days in the buckets

Well 4 days into real Vegging and all is going pretty well, I will be placing the other 6 lil ladies in their buckets tonite also.  

I am guessing that my PH test solution is no good heh, I finally got my new Hanna PH meter up and running  tonite and the buckets tested at about 7.2.   THAT is NO good...   So I topped off the water in the first six buckets and brought the nute level up to about 600 PPM in all the buckets and adjusted the PH to 5.6-5.7 in all the buckets..... I finally changed my nutes over to the Fox Farms Grow Big.  Kinda wondering if I will see a difference between the Botanicare and Fox Farms Nute lines.

Since I am vegging still  I am gonna switch over to my flourescents for the rest of the veg and then put the HPS's back in when switching over to bloom.  I have had very good luck in the past with these ladies mommas vegging under flourescents.... I am gonna use  4 ft shop lights with 2 tubes each,  gonna put a 3000K and a 5600K bulb in each fixture.  Each fixture will be directly over 3 plants each.

The first six are getting pretty close to start a lil LST with....  but dont wanna do that till a positive reaction from the PH change as to not stress them too much.

Once I get the other 6  buckets filled and the flourescents in, I will post some pics tonite.

Thanks for Tuning in.


----------



## CasualGrower (May 1, 2008)

Well here are the pics.. I meant to get them up last night.... but I did not get the work done... I know the plants don't look the best at the moment, but I just fixed the PH problem last night on the ones on the left of the table and the ones on the right of the table just got out of the cloner this morning so give them a couple days bounce back.  I also put a pic of my mongo air pumpo and the 12 way valve I got for it.  The last 2 pics are of my lil tent from the outside in my basement.


----------



## IRISH (May 5, 2008)

Hey CG, like the set-up, nice room too.i got a question, are these fed at the roots only, no top feed ?. could it be as simple as what i'm looking at- 5gal bucket, air pump, air line in lid, air stone, 5inch net pot, medium???
anyways bro, they look real good. i'll be watching this grow 4-sure


----------



## CasualGrower (May 5, 2008)

Yep it is as simple as that..... I have an extra bucket that I mix up for water changes.... just move the plant and the airstone over and that is all there is to it.


----------



## CasualGrower (May 5, 2008)

OK everyone, Time has come to introduce mah girls to a lil Bondage.  

As I hope everyone can see, the girls are looking GREAT!!!  The change over to the Flourescents has not affected negatively at all... in fact  they look better than under the HPS at this early stage.  The first 6 clones that I put in the buckets are getting their first tie down today and I am also giving a small extra shot of Fox Farms Grow Big... putting about 2 tablespoons in each bucket.  There has not been hardly any evaporation, maybe lost a couple pints in each bucket so I am not gonna PH a new batch of water and top them off today....

I was kinda concerned about the orange buckets not being totally light proof and how it would affect root growth... well by the pic you can see that there is plenty of new healthy white root growth, so all is good there.

The six clones on the right side of the room are about a week behind the ones on the left and they are still getting used to their new home so I am not gonna mess with them just yet.... probably by thiks weekend they will be ready for a lil nute shot and their first tie down...They still need to green up a bit.
The Last pic is of Mama after I topped her back a bit to promote some new side growth... she has put out about 5-6 inches on her branches in the last week alone. 

So let me know what you think, and if you have any questions or comments just holler.


----------



## Puffin Afatty (May 5, 2008)

CasualGrower said:
			
		

> OK everyone, Time has come to introduce mah girls to a lil Bondage.
> 
> As I hope everyone can see, the girls are looking GREAT!!! The change over to the Flourescents has not affected negatively at all... in fact they look better than under the HPS at this early stage. The first 6 clones that I put in the buckets are getting their first tie down today and I am also giving a small extra shot of Fox Farms Grow Big... putting about 2 tablespoons in each bucket. There has not been hardly any evaporation, maybe lost a couple pints in each bucket so I am not gonna PH a new batch of water and top them off today....
> 
> ...


 

_nice looking start there CG :aok:_


----------



## CasualGrower (May 8, 2008)

OK guys, May 8, 2008 been 3 or 4 days since last update.... the girls on the left are show a huge burst of growth and seem to like being tied down, so I am gonna do what self respecting man would do.... Tie them down a lil tighter and put a second tie on them.  Their PH has crept up on them a lil bit, I am guess that is result from alkali wastes from the plants.  so I will bump their PH down a lil bit today and I put another lil shot of grow big in one of them for an experiment.   I will probably give the girls a water change next week.

(after I wrote this I found out my PH meter was a lil out of adj... but they still should be OK... I adjusted their PH to around 6.0 and found the meter was about .4 out of adj so all should be well still.  I will keep an eye on them for the rest of the day to make sure and will  take immediate action if I see things going foul.)

The girls on the right are finally showing significant new growth.  and you guessed it.....  TIME FOR BONDAGE!!!!... they will get their first tying today also and they will get a shot of a couple tablespoons of Grow Big.
 Pics 1 and 2, show the girls before I assaulted them today.... Pic 3 is one of them while I am assaulting her.. Pic 4 and 5 are the girls after I have had my way with them....6&7 are just a couple of closer pis of the tying and foilage...   8&9 are of the grow area one with lights up and one with lights down.


----------



## Timmyjg6 (May 8, 2008)

Looking nice bro. I like your approach... Have you turned on the 400 watt HPS's yet to see what temps your going to look at in that room. What kind of ventilation you looking at?


----------



## Nova (May 8, 2008)

Good job CG!

There's something about a green leaf against an orange background that makes it pleasant! :hubba:


----------



## CasualGrower (May 8, 2008)

My basement is underground, so it stays about 65ish down there, unless the wife goes nuts on laundry and keeps the dryer going all day.  For ventilation I am thinking of just venting up the chimney hehehe, or I might run a line to one of the small windows.... not too worried about smell, I am in the process of making a carbon scrubber, (of course, it will be the same way i do everything.... I OVERDO it LOL).


----------



## Timmyjg6 (May 8, 2008)

I know what you mean man. I like to over do everything too... So how long do you plan on veggin?


----------



## IRISH (May 8, 2008)

looking good bro, i like the tie job on subject number 3:hubba: ... and that your room is cleaner than mine, oh, and much,much bigger. how big is that room? in just the past few days theres alot of new growth. very nice CG, very nice...


----------



## CasualGrower (May 8, 2008)

Well, I am still waiting for the second HPS light to get here, but they will be going into flower pretty soon.... 

The room is about 5'x6'.  plenty of room to get in there and move around ).


----------



## CasualGrower (May 12, 2008)

Small update, no pics this one... Pics to come Thurs.

Well I found out one thing not to do.... Send the wife to the hydro store to pick up a couple things.....  She has decided to have me grow a couple tomatoes in the grow room heh.... that is gonna cut down on size i planned to veg.  So, my new light is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday, so that will be when the ladies get thrown into flower, I am gonna do a full water change and tie a 3rd time if I can this early.....  I will continue the LST through the stretch and see if they reach around the bucket.... the foilage growth so far has been amazing and I am thoroughly pleased with the DWC so far.

In the cloning and mother department, I took 7 good clones out of the cloner and put them into 16 oz cups with .... dont throw things at me, it is only temporary for a couple days..... Miracle Grow moisture control soil....  I plan on taking a hike with them thursday also and getting them in the woods.... I am gonna be a busy boy.   I also refilled the cloner, I put 6 cuts in from the mother in the back that was not structured very well and filled the other 7 slots with cuttings from Big Mama..... so in a couple weeks I should be able take several more out to the woods...... I will probably establish a new mother or 2 in this batch of cuttings also.

Til Thursday... Take it easy..


----------



## CasualGrower (May 15, 2008)

Well we got some action in the indoor garden today.  I finally got my new Floralux 400 watt HPS lamp from HTG.  I have to say,  I am REALLY impressed with this purchase.  The quality of the reflector is GREAT!!!!.  I am actually thinking of buying another one to replace my first lamp and keep that one for a backup.  Best light system I have seen for 94 bucks, 117 total including shipping.  

Anyway, back to the growroom.  Well today I changed the water in all 12 buckets.  I am using a mix of FF Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, Big Bloom and Liquid Karma for flowering.... Total PPMs is set at about 1100 in each bucket with a tap water base of 170ish.... about 700 PPMs are harsh nutes and the rest is the Liquid Karma and Big Bloom.  So it looks like all is GTG.... grow me dem buds ladies ) hehehe

I have also done some more tying today and have picked a few branches for colas and have started to isolate them.  I have also trimmed some of the smaller brances and popcorn sites so the plant can throw more energy into the colas rather than all the lil stuff.  I did this on all the first 6 plants on the left.

On the right side I have basically tightened up the first tie and added the second tie to start around the bucket today.  I am not sure but I think the ones on the right got stunted for a lil bit.. slow growth.. I might have nute locked them a lil, but they have started to show new growth so they should be OK.  I have changed their water to the same rates as I did the ones above.  

The PH in all the buckets is 5.6 - 5.8 and water temps once they equalize should be right around 70 ish.... if it does not come up to that I will get some milk crates and set the buckets on them so they dont touch the floor.  I have set the water level just to the bottom of the net pots.... the  plants have extended their roots nicely also.


OH and in the pics you can see the wife's tomatoes.. bleh bleh bleh.. they doing OK too heh...


----------



## Cali*Style (May 15, 2008)

Looking good. The tomatoes add spunk... And probably help to keep the misses happy.


----------



## CasualGrower (May 15, 2008)

Yea, the tomatoes, will keep her happy, IF  I can get them to grow inside LOL..... usually i just throw them in the ground outside add a few ferts and water when needed and I usually have fruits before the 4th of July.... I doubt I will get there that early just starting now, but should be a challenge )


----------



## Puffin Afatty (May 15, 2008)

CasualGrower said:
			
		

> _Looking good CG, I dont think you are being too rough at all.  the more you make em turn, the higher your yield, eh_ :hubba:


----------



## CasualGrower (May 15, 2008)

TY PA.. yea I am turning them into giant corkscrews 8)


----------



## snuggles (May 16, 2008)

CasualGrower said:
			
		

> Hey snuggles, the buckets you got from Home De-Pot..... are they the orange ones? the HD's in my area only had those, I went all over town looking for darker buckets and the only place that had them were Worm's Way and I refuse to pay that much for a bucket heh... I am curious if they let too much light in to the root zone or if you have had any algae problems.... I am hoping it blocks enough, but if not I will wrap them in black poly.


 
Sorry for the delay LOL, not that it matters now but yes I used the orange buckets abd they did good by me.


----------



## Ettesun (May 16, 2008)

Well we got some action in the indoor garden today. I finally got my new Floralux 400 watt HPS lamp from HTG. I have to say, I am REALLY impressed with this purchase. The quality of the reflector is GREAT!!!!. I am actually thinking of buying another one to replace my first lamp and keep that one for a backup. Best light system I have seen for 94 bucks, 117 total including shipping. 

I'm glad you posted about the lights...  I'm thinking of getting some 400s instead of the huge electric bill from the 1000s....
Also, I just wanted you to know I am sorry about your mother.  I lost my mother two and a half years ago and I miss her so much.  I dream about her sometimes and it is awesome.  It is like she is right here with me.  Just a wonderful feeling.  I feel she comes to comfort me when I am feeling down.  Some people think that's a little crazy, but not me.  I can feel her love always.
Be strong and enjoy every day.  
God Bless you and yours.


----------



## smokybear (May 16, 2008)

Things are looking good so far my friend. Nice work. I say get another one. They are fantastic lights. Two 400 watts will allow you to distribute the light more efficiently than one 1000 watter, I think. Just my thoughts. Anyways, things look great. Nice work once again. Keep us posted. Take care and be safe.


----------



## CasualGrower (May 16, 2008)

Yea Smokeybear.  I think i am gonna get another of the floralux's.... I like their reflector a LOT better than the first 400 I got from HTG, and this one was about 20 bones cheaper than the first one too..... Only downfall on it I see is that if you have concerns about heat.  The ballast is connected to the reflector on this set up, so it is not for all applications, but the reflector also has poanels you can remove for vent hoses.... one on the top and one at the far side of the bulb for use with maybe a cool tube..... but in my basement where it stays nice and cool, it should be just fine.  I actually have to worry about it being too cool for the buckets to sit on the floor.... I am gonna have to start temping the water regularly and if it doesn't come up to where I want it.... I will have to get some milk crates to get the buckets off the floor.


----------



## CasualGrower (May 22, 2008)

OK Ladies and Gentlemen.... It's been a week since my last update.  I have not done anything in the garden this week except let the ladies do their thing..... I might do a lil more tying in the next week to separate the Cola branches to the point where I want them.

I think the pictures will speak for themselves, compare them with last weeks pic and there is a HUGE difference... I got a couple close-ups of lil nugs starting )... and only a week into it..... I LOVE MATURE CLONES!!!!

Also the tomatoes have started to take off and grow....

One other thing... I added a new fan, now I dont have to go in there every day and urn the fan from side to side..... This one will oscillate the whole room and not just half.


----------



## CasualGrower (May 22, 2008)

HAHAHAH  I think you might be right.... I just surfed their site.  I think they might have sent me the wrong light LOL..... I always order from the specials page and now that I looked there, They have the Florasun for 95 bucks.... but they sent me the Floralux LOL...

I try to trim nice an early during LST so once they heal They are good to go...Very lil trimming if any at all from here on out.

Nope the Tomatoes are just in a couple square buckets I had laying around here... Cat litter buckets from Sam's LOL... Pet Pride Scoopable Cat Litter LOL... But I am thinking I might get a few of those Farm Kits, I think HTG sells them, Basically they turn any DWC bucket  into a water farm system.  Those kits run like 15 bucks each.  I will try to find a link for them.

Nope, it wasn't HTG... Discount Hydro sells them.... scroll down the page on this link.


http://www.discount-hydro.com/productdisp.php?pid=34&navid=4


----------



## annscrib (May 22, 2008)

wow those are some very healthy ladies you have thier cg  gl with ur grow


----------



## CasualGrower (May 22, 2008)

TY Ann, yea they seem to be happy hidden away in the basement ).


----------



## Cali*Style (May 22, 2008)

Still looking awesome...


Love those fat little indi leaves.


----------



## CasualGrower (May 22, 2008)

TY Cali 8)


----------



## CasualGrower (May 29, 2008)

Hey Everyone,

It's Update time again.  Well the ladies seem to be doing very well, I brought the water levels back up in the buckets since the root growth has gone soo well... I brought PPMs to a 1000 total, mixed with my high PPM tap water is about the right level.  And the PH in all the buckets is 5.5 - 5.8.  On PH... WOW!!!! Advanced Nutrients PH down is some potent stuff..... just a drop will do ya.  Much stronger than GH PH down.

The girls on the left I tied a little more on and I think I am gonna leave the girls on the right alone for the restof the grow....  see how the yields will be different.

Oh and one of the Tomato plants are blooming... My wife is happy.... I dont think you can burn up a tomato plant in a Hydro system LOL... I am running 1600- 2000 PPM in their buckets with Cal-Mag/Grow/and Bloom nutes heh... They like it though.

I think I got some pretty nice close ups of a couple of mah lil nugs.. aint they purty :hubba: 

On a sad note today:...  I killed my Mother plant that was the progenitor of all these ladies....She was just too darn big to keep in the nursery.  She lived a long and healthy life being the only plant to survive the neglect they got while my mother was sick.  But I did get 2 GREAT looking clones with great root growth out of the cloner to replace her with and took another 13 from there and put into Solo cups to get used to soil... They will be moved outside in about a week or so.  From Mother I took another 15 Great cuttings for the Cloner, they will be to refill the buckets once this grow is complete.  and I tried another 6 clones from her using rooting hormone and soil..../shrug, I have never done it before so I thought I would try.  Heh, she was soo big I coulda taken another 15 healthy cuts from her easily.


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 5, 2008)

End of the third week of flowering.... Ladies are starting to gain a lil weight it looks like.  Also it looks as though they are starting to frost up a lil bit... all in all, looking GREAT!!!..


The Tomatoes are throwing more blooms also.

I threw in a few pics of the nursery and the Replacement mother plants.... A bunch of plants in cups waiting for me to get some time to take them out to the farm... and a couple pics of the next crop to go into the bloom room.  They will be ready to go into Vegging in the next week.  This will give them a good heavy month to VEg before and should increase yields immensly.  The pics of the roots show their growth after 7 days in the home made bubble-cloner.  I do NOT have the stems submerged this time to see if there is a big difference and it does look better keeping it more Aero.

Oh the extra 6 cutting i took and trying to clone in soil for a lil experiment......  I think 5 will totally die, 1 might live, so I will not waste my time trying that again....

Questions or suggestions welcome 8)

Thanks for checking out my lil grow.


----------



## stoner (Jun 5, 2008)

they are looking good


----------



## Puffin Afatty (Jun 6, 2008)

*Gonna be some nice fat ladies I think *:yay:


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 6, 2008)

Thank ya Guys... 3 weeks into flowering and they are looking great I think...  I think i like topping and making 2 or maybe even 4  center colas  may be better than the LST ring around the bucket on the left 6 I am doing......  Not sure the plants have the power throw up all those brances from being laid over on it's side........   I mean it is  kewl.. but volume  I think will not be tops.... I will top and supercrop the entire next set of clones to experiment.


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 9, 2008)

Well I thought I would do a small update early this week cause I was wondering if anyone out there might be able to help with this small problem that I also had in the last grow.....  Just under 4 weeks into blooming and Trichrome production has started.... But I am also getting some pretty concerning browning and yellowing of the fan leaves...

I did not get too concerned about it the last grow, but I see many people here growing and their foilage looks healthy up till harvest....

If anyone has any ideas or just to lay my concerns to rest, please post.


Here are some pics, I actually got a couple decent ones showing trichs....  Learning to use your camera is a good thing.

I did not take PPM measurements or PH readings today... no time before I have to go to work tonite......  I have a full water change and renutine scheduled for wed or thurs anyway.


----------



## Puffin Afatty (Jun 9, 2008)

CasualGrower said:
			
		

> Well I thought I would do a small update early this week cause I was wondering if anyone out there might be able to help with this small problem that I also had in the last grow..... Just under 4 weeks into blooming and Trichrome production has started.... But I am also getting some pretty concerning browning and yellowing of the fan leaves...
> 
> I did not get too concerned about it the last grow, but I see many people here growing and their foilage looks healthy up till harvest....
> 
> ...


 
_I have read that indicas like yours sometimes have a magnesium def right around 3-4 weeks into flowering, a transition thing. perhaps a bit of epson salt right away with your next res change??  it wont hurt and might help.  What did you do last time??  also, it could be due to salt build up? :hubba: _


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 9, 2008)

Would Botanicare Cal/Mag help.... I have that on hand for the tomatoes anyway.... maybe a lil shot of that.

Last time I just sorta let it go, but I think it hurt my yields, would like to try and solve problem this time around.


----------



## Puffin Afatty (Jun 9, 2008)

CasualGrower said:
			
		

> Would Botanicare Cal/Mag help.... I have that on hand for the tomatoes anyway.... maybe a lil shot of that.
> 
> Last time I just sorta let it go, but I think it hurt my yields, would like to try and solve problem this time around.


 
_try the cal mag, but go slow, i dont know what it is going to do to the nute balance.:hubba: _


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 9, 2008)

The kids on the right seem to be moving along faster into this nute thing than those on the left..... maybe cause they are under the newer light../shrug.  

When I get home wednesday I will do my rex changes and on 5 of those on the right I will add 1/2 oz Calmag to the 4 gallons of water in the resevoirs..... on the 6th one I will add a full ounce and see what kind of difference there is.

I will probably go ahead and add 1/2 oz to the 6 buckets on the left to try and stave off the problem on that side..... 

Unless someone comes in here yelling not too heh..
This seems to happen just as Trich production starts.


----------



## parkingjoe (Jun 9, 2008)

hi casual looking great man but just the one question...

how do you get the tomatoes to light up when you roll them into a joint dude as i can never light them

jesting dude great looking plants btw.

pkj


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 9, 2008)

Well the wife is really happy now about growing tomatoes now that you cant buy them at the stores heh.  No salmonella in my basement hehhee...

As for smoking them, you have to dry them for a LONG!!! time )


----------



## parkingjoe (Jun 9, 2008)

why cant you buy them anymore???

pkj


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 9, 2008)

There is a big Salmonella outbreak in the US with Raw tomatoes.....  all the stores and restaurants are not selling them at the moment...

Seems as a major supplier out there bought a load of infected fertilizer, problem is they dont know which supplier it was yet heh.


----------



## Puffin Afatty (Jun 9, 2008)

CasualGrower said:
			
		

> There is a big Salmonella outbreak in the US with Raw tomatoes..... all the stores and restaurants are not selling them at the moment...
> 
> Seems as a major supplier out there bought a load of infected fertilizer, problem is they dont know which supplier it was yet heh.


 
_just put a couple tomatoe plants in with your pot plants.  bet they would be some good tomatoes, eh_:hubba:


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 10, 2008)

Good thing I put two in there a month ago.... they are starting to bloom good now.  be a while for fruit though.


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 12, 2008)

OK, time for that small update... Not gonna post pics today since I did that just 2 days ago.

Today I did a Full water change in all 12 buckets.  I brought the water level up to about 3 inches from the top of the bucket.  In that amount of water I added 1 OZ of Fox Farms Tiger Bloom, and a 1/2 oz of Big Bloom, Botanicare Liquid Karma, and Botanicare CalMag (to fight the Cal deficiency I think I have goin on)... If the CalMag starts fixing the problem I might add another 1/2 oz within the week.  

My Tap water today was reading 155 PPM and with those additives it brought the solution up to about 850ish in each bucket and only about 500 of that is harsh nutes.... The rest is just the additives...And the best thing is after adding that combination to the buckets today, They PH'd at a steady 5.6.... Can't ask for any better than that :hubba: .




The tomatoes also underwent a water change.....  I put 2 oz of Tiger in them... a full oz of calmag and a 1/2 oz of Liquid Karma.  I am hoping that fruit will start to form next week or so.


The Nursery is also undergoing some changes this week.  Taking the clones out of the cloner and putting them in their net pots and setting them in Veg mode for the next 5 weeks or so.... till the crop in bloom is done anyway.  Gonna bring the water up to the bottom of the cups till the roots startr to protrude and then I will actively make them chase the water aeroponically.  
Both the new mother plants are now growing vigorously and should be more than ready to cut when the third batch will be needed to start being cloned.


Nutrient Note:  From now on I think I am gonna return to using the Botanicare Pro Blend Nutrients  for veg and bloom.  The Fox Farms did well, but what I heard was sorta true and it looks like there may be many more solids in their product and in hydro that is not really a good thing.... I think i will still use Big Bloom in the same ratio as i use Liquid karma.... It can only help I guess and if I see improvement in the plants with the Calmag, I will start all my ladies on a lil shot of that when starting blooming.


NOTE for NEW GROWERS:   OMG!!! Stop measuring your nutrients in a measuring cup or by guess  or by the add and test and repeat method heh......  Get yourself a few Marinade Injector needle and syringes.... It makes measuring Nutes so much easier, especially if you use several independent resevoirs.


----------



## stunzeed (Jun 13, 2008)

CasualGrower said:
			
		

> OK, time for that small update... Not gonna post pics today since I did that just 2 days ago.
> 
> Today I did a Full water change in all 12 buckets. I brought the water level up to about 3 inches from the top of the bucket. In that amount of water I added 1 OZ of Fox Farms Tiger Bloom, and a 1/2 oz of Big Bloom, Botanicare Liquid Karma, and Botanicare CalMag (to fight the Cal deficiency I think I have goin on)... If the CalMag starts fixing the problem I might add another 1/2 oz within the week.
> 
> ...


 

I think I learned the hard way too with the Fox farm. I like pure blend but it is SPENDY...... WOO HOO.  I like Gen hydro. I hear GREAT things bout advanced nutes but I have never used them. I REALLY liked a lesser known product called Supernatural. It was the best I ever used but I cant find it locally anymore. Also USE SUPERTHRIVE with every other water. I love the stuff!!!!!

Stunzeed..


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 13, 2008)

I have seen superthrive at the store, but I have been hesitant about trying it, I have seen people here rave about it here and I have also seen them rant over it.../shrug, I will prolly try it one day.


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 16, 2008)

Well another lil update today.  There is about 4-5 weeks left on the ladies down in the blooming room, and the clones have rooted VERY well so now is the time to get them out of the cloner and into Vegging.

For Vegging I am using 2 resevoirs with 6 pots in each res.  Of the 15 cuttings I took, 14 have rooted, and rooted VERY well....   So I will double up 2 of the pots, I just cant throw good clones away heh.

Resevoirs are approximately 10 gallons each.  Base line tap water PPM today is around 200 , In each i am putting 2 OZ of Botanicare Pro Blend Grow, 1/2 oz of Botanicare Liquid Karma and 1/2 oz of Botanicare Cal/Mag... ( not sure if Cal/Mag will help right now... but we will see).  this mix brings the PPM up to 550ish total... lil on the light side, but it is OK to start off lite.  Once they take off and start growing, I will add some more Grow to them.

For lighting I am using 2 4 ft floro shop lights with 2-40 watt bulbs each.  the bulbs are a Kit/bath (3100 kelvin) and a (6500 Kelvin) Daylight bulb in each.   I will be adding a 3rd 80 watt light later today.   For supplemental light, if I see a shaded spot I am using Clamp lights with reflectors with CFL  daylight bulbs.

Below are Pics in different stages in the big move.

PS:  The Cal mag seems to have had a possitive result in the blooming room.... The leaves on the plants that were most affected seems to have stopped browning for the moment, and the green parts of the leaves have turned back up towards the light to collect that all important energy.  Bloom update and pics of their to come on Thursday... End of week 5.

Pic 1 :  some of those roots are 1ft long... I LOVE my lil Home made cloner )
Pic 2:  First 6 pots done
Pic 3:  The bigger of the 2 new mother plants I am establishing
Pic 4:  The second mother plant.. Took abou a week for her to start growing after going in the bucket.
Pic 5:  Look... a hot Tub... oooo Bubbles...
Pic 6:  Lil better look at Resevoir
Pic 7:  Look at the lil Ladies before putting in the Hydroton.
Pic 8:  ALL DONE!!!!   Aint they purty!


----------



## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT (Jun 16, 2008)

*Whats up CG. May i say everything is looking great. :aok: Nice roots on those clones that's for sure. :hubba: *


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 16, 2008)

Thank ya TBG, Yea, this time I rooted more areoponically rather than submerged.... 2 airstones was enough but I think i will add another 2 more this next time since my new airpump I bought when putting the mothers in the buckets has 4 outlets....   I moved the smaller pump over to the mothers and the larger one to the clones.... 2 stones in each rez...  Next set of cuttings I will just move the 2 stones in one rez over to the cloner. :hubba:


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 19, 2008)

Well Guys, I think I have learned a couple things about the lil Bagseed ghetto girl this grow.  I think I have learned that she does not really like to be tied up.  The LSTing I did on her seems to have been a bad thing.  The plants on the left side that I LST'd a bit harder than the ones on the right that seemed to lag behind, have switched places. The ones on the left look at least a week or 2 behind the right ones now.  The ones on the right are throwing some decent buds, but nothing like the first grow where I found this firl and all I did was Top her.... The Colas are about a quarter of the size of the original plant and the ones that I LSTd harder are much smaller than that.

Another thing I have learned about this girl is that I don't beleive that this lady is a candidate for Puffins Re-Veg Technique.  I put the Cal-Mag in her last week and it did seem bring the greener parts of the leaves back up and turned them towards the light better.  However I think she just likes to eat herself while finishing.  The ones on the right are browning a bit more... However I think it did slow a bit since the water change and the ones on the left are now starting to brown a lil bit.

Next grow I will start the Cal-Mag at start of flowering and no more LST.... I will just top all plants and let them grow on )  Tha seems to be what she likes.

Now for the Pics..... speaking of Pics I made several Trich pics..... I LOVE Trich pics )


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 26, 2008)

Well 6th week is in the books..... The 6 on the right are in the final phase and the ones on the left I think are about a week behind.  The Trichs on the right are mostly cloudy with a few ambers here and there.

I broke one of my own rules this week also..... I trimmed some leaves, but they were already cannibalized anyway.... so some of the pics will show before and after.

For Nutes i added 1/2 oz of each, Big Bloom, Cal-mag and Liquid Karma..... on the ones that are a week behind I added a half oz of Pure Blend Bloom.

I am not impressed with the LST at all, this lil ghetto girl does not like to be ties up, so next grow I will just top and let her do what she does best.  The 6 plants that I LST'd pretty hard I probably wont yield 2 oz total.  The other 6 that were not done that hard will get maybe 4 oz...... I got mare than that off 5 random plants just growing on my first run... this is twice the plants  and less yield...

I have also decided that I will move my grow to the attic..... so I will be in the process of turning a hot humid attic into a nice cool place to grow.  I will probably start a thread in the Growroom design forum showing the entire process from stat to finish.  Should be an interesting read and a how to experience.


----------



## Puffin Afatty (Jun 26, 2008)

*very cool CG  *  :aok:


----------



## IRISH (Jun 29, 2008)

hey cg, whats up? man them brown leaves are trippin' me out. did you try the epsom? i'm soil, soooo , hmm... you did a flush , right? good luck, other than that all else looks descent...


----------



## CasualGrower (Jun 29, 2008)

Well the last wate change I put some cal-mag in and the browning has slowed a lot.  But this girl seems to like to eat heself when finishing..... Not sure on how to use the epsom salt but i will try to use some next grow.   I am also gonna use a some Cal-Mag all the way thru the next grow to.... try to head off the problem before it starts.


----------



## tn_toker420 (Jun 29, 2008)

wow those are loookin' good i'm tellin ya...I don't know if you mentioned it or not CG, but would you know the particular strain or is it from a bagseed mother???


----------



## CasualGrower (Jul 20, 2008)

OK.. Been a few weeks since I updated but there was really no change in the appearance of mah plants.... This pistils got red/brown and the trichs are a nice combination of cloudy and amber....

We are at 9 weeks into flowering....  Today (7-17) I harvested all 12 plants this evening....  Trimming went pretty good and buds look pretty nice....  a Little smallin size but not too bad.... (I guess the no Veg time and the hard LST while in flower kinda hurt) However there are some gnarley looking twisting looking buds that are interesting... I will try to get some pics of them too....... But the next grow is in the bloom room and started now.... Those plants have vegged for at least 5 weeks and are about 16" tall and topped and bushing out well.......  I am looking for a huge harvest next time around.

I got some good news and some bad news.....  good news first....  Looks like I got about 2.5 lbs (wet)  prolly about 14 ozs or so dry once it cures out.... I might be a lil off in my figuring   but I hope that it is that close.

the bad news.... 1st item:  I will NEVER grow tomatoes in my weed room again.... They got way out of control and infested with lil  white moth looking bugs.... The bugs dont seem to like the weed and have seemed to vacated the premises once I got rid of the tomatoes.....

2nd item....  My Bagseed girl is not TOTALLY stable.... While trimming her up and hanging her I ran into one bud which was close to a tie down point that put out 1 seed... the seed was pretty and looked Very nice except that there was no male anywhere close to the grow.  I know that this Hermi was a total Stress Hermi but in the end I will NEVER breed this girl now..... and that has kinda put me into a rush for some good seeds....

Anyway, I will post some pics of the hanging buds tomorrow and of the new grow starting.


----------



## CasualGrower (Jul 28, 2008)

Well I was gonna get some pics up of the hanging bud but, I didn't heh.  I do have some pics of the final harvest now though.... The bud was hanging for about 10 days or so, is good and dry now, but still pretty green... So into the jars it goes for some curing.  I found a few more seeds in the buds during final trim but only about a total of 10 or so, so not too bad....  I will never LST during bloom again...  I feel that it hurt yield and also caused the couple of hermie buds... But now that I know this girl is not 100% stable, I will NOT breed her...  I will grow her a few more times though as I will probably not get real seeds till we get moved some time over the next couple years..( Would hate to start a real grow and up an d move in the middle of it.)

Anyway, here are some harvest pics and the new grow that went into the bloomer later the same evening I havested this crop... They are growing HUGE!!!!!  I expect MUCH more yield from them. They are about 10 days into flower now.


----------



## KGB30 (Jul 28, 2008)

OMG what a great grow have had. Great job!!!


----------



## CasualGrower (Jul 28, 2008)

TYVM KGB 8)...  was a pretty good grow... I learned a few things too... Next grow will be even better )... bout 7.5 weeks to go on that one now:hubba: .  Cutting for the next grow been in the cloner for about 5 days now too.....   So things are set up for a few grows now )


----------



## KGB30 (Jul 28, 2008)

Glad to hear your grow was good and are ready for fall grow..


----------



## IRISH (Jul 28, 2008)

nice grow CG.  hows the attic set up going? nice looking bud bro, your into some fine toking now. :hubba:  ...


----------



## CasualGrower (Jul 28, 2008)

The attic has been on hold for the last couple weeks..... but about to get back at it...Should be done well before the grow I just started is finished and the clones int he cloner now are ready to start.

Yep, Yep... a lil bit of curing to get the 'green' out and all should be FINE )


----------



## Old Hippie (Aug 14, 2008)

NICE PLANTS And nice Bud! keep growin bro!


----------



## andy52 (Aug 24, 2008)

very nice indeed,just got toi check it out.i read every bit of both grows and its all good.hope i can come close.thank you very much


----------



## papabeach1 (Sep 29, 2008)

very nice information here...  (raising my hand)  I got a question, would it be great to have mist fogger floats on the water and creates lot of fogs of oxgens?  fill in up the chamber?


----------



## CasualGrower (Sep 29, 2008)

papabeach1 said:
			
		

> very nice information here... (raising my hand) I got a question, would it be great to have mist fogger floats on the water and creates lot of fogs of oxgens? fill in up the chamber?


 
I dont really rely on fogging (aeroponic) for plant growth.... I do a Bubble-ponic to encourage root growth but once I have a well established rootmass I then keep them submerged in full bucket for a DWC grow.


----------



## CasualGrower (Sep 29, 2008)

andy52 said:
			
		

> very nice indeed,just got toi check it out.i read every bit of both grows and its all good.hope i can come close.thank you very much


 
Thank you Very Much Andy52... I am glad you enjoyed the read... If ya get some time, check out my latest grow... I am revegging 8 of the plants that were harvested in this grow and I am also blooming my 2 mother plants...  The revegs are quite ugly atm but I am hoping for new growth soon.:hubba:


----------



## papabeach1 (Sep 29, 2008)

water, air pump, air stones,   that is all it is to it.. even in the buckets too?

should I try mist fogger to see the results? I can get this week


----------



## CasualGrower (Sep 29, 2008)

papabeach1 said:
			
		

> water, air pump, air stones, that is all it is to it.. even in the buckets too?
> 
> should I try mist fogger to see the results? I can get this week


 
Yep... 12 5-Gallon Buckets.. One large Air Pump with a 12-way divider...Buckets filled with Nute solution and tops cut out to suspend 5 in net pots with clones in Hydroton and 2 400 watt HPS lights.


----------



## JBonez (Oct 30, 2008)

yo cg, just noticing some of your last pics, your buds didnt seems to look very good, or maybe that was a couple of bad pics, either way, way to stick it out, im going the dwc route after i clone, should be a good run, but i will see.


----------



## CasualGrower (Oct 30, 2008)

Yea this lil bagseed girl I have been growing does not put out a huge cola like I would like.....  Probably has to do with me not trimming more than anything... but she does put out the popcorn buds like crazy.. and the smoke quality is top notch.....

I am trying some new seeds though to try and find a better momma


----------

