Hal's been busy

[NorCalHal]

Thanks everyone for looking. Full Time job to say the least.
My bad...My Justin Beiber America Tat showed haha.

Been growing a long time.1989 was the year my growing addiction started.

Yes. Must keep the room clean...super clean. My room is sealed, so I don't really get alot of dust coming in, but what dust is floating around, one of the 6 Carbon Scrubbers will pick it up.
Speaking of which, I regularly change the pre-filter on the carbon scrubbers every run. I, well my Wife, goes to the local fabric store and gets "batting" which I use as a pre filter. For the cost of a regular replacement filter, I can change all of them.
Dehumidifier...yes...quite spendy, almost 2k. But, I can't take any chances on mold or high rh. Can't have it.

As far as method, it's pretty simple.

Lets start with the pots. I was usuing "Smart Pots" and even tried the "Air Pots". You know what I found out, they make no difference. All hype, and I got caught up in it too. I am lucky and know quite a few growers and we all tried them. We did side by side runs with Smart Pots and cheap plastic bags.
The cheap plastic bags won.
For me, the cost of the plastic bags ,10 cents apeice, as compared to smart pots at 6-7 bucks a peice was a huge difference also. Now mind you, if I felt the Smart Pots gave me an advantage, I would have stayed with them.
Also, ease of clean up was a huge factor also. Cleaning Smart Pots suck.
So, long story short, I have alot of used smart pots for sale haha.

The medium I am currently usuing is ProMix HP. I love it. No amending it at all. Pot and go. Love it.

As far as nuits, I keep it pretty Simple.
Because Iuse R/O water, I add GH CaliMagic (just switched to this from Cal-Mag Plus) and Pro Silicate.
Those 2 items are a MUST if you use R/O water.
Then regular GH 3 Part.
The only other item I add is Hygrozyme and Superthrive. Alot of hatin' on Superthrive, but I like it.

Thats it. I used alot of different items but all it really did was drain my wallet.

GH 3 part for the win!

Pruning is KEY. If you notice in the pics, I prune up pretty high. I hate trimming, so I am going for FAT nugs, no larf at all. I ain't into hash making so I cut out all the swag at the bottoms.
Remember, never cut out leaves, cut out lowers.

Big Plants...Big Fun! In the pics of the Green Ribbon, the Stakes I used are 6 footers, to give you an idea of how tall the plants are.
Now, I would not try to get them this tall next run, it just worked out this way this time. I would perfer them to be around 4 foot.

Enviroment,enviroment. Get control of your enviroment. This is the best advice I could give anyone. There is no magic nuits that create dank, it is more enviroment. Nuits actually play a small part.

Wet/Dry Cycle. Let those pots dry out a bit. Healthy roots love wet/dry.

Thanks again everyone for taking interest. I love growing and put alot of time and effort into these rooms.

 

[NorCalHal]

Another thing I can add is the Circulatory fans. There has been a few threads talking about fan distance and wether or not they should be close to the plants. you can kinda see from the pics that my fans are blowing directly on the girls. All set to high. I beat them up.
Sure, I may lose a few leaves and even hurt a bud or 2, but overall, the benefit outweighs the little that gets damaged.
I HAVE to get those branches thick in order to produce big nug.

 

[Roddy]

For me, the cost of the plastic bags ,10 cents apeice, as compared to smart pots at 6-7 bucks a peice was a huge difference also. Now mind you, if I felt the Smart Pots gave me an advantage, I would have stayed with them.
Also, ease of clean up was a huge factor also. Cleaning Smart Pots suck.
So, long story short, I have alot of used smart pots for sale haha.

Yeah, and watering hasn't been fun either...good info here, THANKS!

The only other item I add is Hygrozyme and Superthrive. Alot of hatin' on Superthrive, but I like it.

When I started, my buddy from Hawaii gave me a bottle of superthrive and told me it was his secret ingredient for all his grows. The man grew some mean OD weed!

Dehumidifier...yes...quite spendy, almost 2k. But, I can't take any chances on mold or high rh. Can't have it.

Yeah, my little 70 pint was around $250 on sale...wish I had another!

 

[NorCalHal]

I had to go with the Santa Fe. I was running 2 of the 70 pint a day units, and they still were not keeping up. Along with that, the 70 pint a day units run around 7 amps each, and they pretty much never shut off.
I am maxed out on my electrical, so I had to get a more efficient unit.
The Santa Fe only runs 6 amps, and doesn't run all the time.

 

[JustAnotherAntMarching]

W-o-w

 

[Hushpuppy]

Seriously nice setup I know you gotta love your work because that has to be all that you have time to do. My wife doesn't understand why I stay so busy with my little grow and my partner's grow. I told her, you just don't know how much it takes to do this right until you do it yourself.

One question tho, how tall do you usually veg your girls before the flip?

 

[Herm]

Awesome looking plants. How do you handle all the trimming you do? When do you do your pruning and how long do you wait to flip after you prune?

 

[HemperFi]

Hal, can you give us an estimate on how much it might cost to set up a ten light room?

Just curious....

Peace

 

[ston-loc]

That's just outstanding Hal! Mad props on the stellar work!

 

[bho_expertz]

89 ... Jesus. I was eleven . Thanks for all the info. Mad respect.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Hal, can you give us an estimate on how much it might cost to set up a ten light room?

Just curious....

Peace

I would be willing to bet there is about 10 grand in materials and labor in that room.

 

[nouvellechef]

Yep. 10k per 10x10 for new everything is about spot on. As far as labor. Cant bill for that when your own sweat goes into it. Sweat equity.

 

[Herm]

Environment,enviroment. Get control of your enviroment. This is the best advice I could give anyone. There is no magic nuits that create dank, it is more environment.

Hey Hal care to elaborate on this? I see you that you have your non CO2 flower room cooled to 72 right now, what do you usually run it during flower? What relative humidity do you run your rooms at once they start to bud?

 

[tcbud]

Glad to see your killing it there NCH.

 

[Time4Plan-B]

I can confirm he is indeed killin it with his dank weed.
T4

 

[NorCalHal]

One question tho, how tall do you usually veg your girls before the flip?

Man, I never really measure them out and I guess it is a little diffferent each time. My issue is I run a few strains and usually an Indica dominant along with Sativa's, so the Indica's need more veg time usually, so the Sat's end up getting huge.
I would say prob around 2 feet or so on average.
I have 12' ceilings, so I don't trip on plant height.

How do you handle all the trimming you do? When do you do your pruning and how long do you wait to flip after you prune?

Lots of close friends. Lifelong. I hate trimming nad would rather pay out my friends then do it myself. I got enough to do. I do help, but I give it up, they do 95% of the trimming. I onluy use 2-3 guys too. Keeps them busy. They love me.

General rule for me trimming is 3 times. Once during Veg, One more at the flip, and once again a week to 10 days into 12/12. Usually by then tho I have most of what I don't want pruned up anyway. I like to keep them pruned up from the get go as it is alot easier to eradicate any bugs, which usually start at the bottoms of the plants. Along with pruning them up early is more airflow under the canopy which prevents mold and helps also beef up the stalks.
Must NEVER have bug issues. MUST never have mold issues.
I give complete credit to nouvellechef who turned me on to Eagle 20 for pm and Floramite for mites. Thanks bro! Dinner and Herb on me if you ever come to Cali!

Hal, can you give us an estimate on how much it might cost to set up a ten light room?

Just curious....

NC had it, it is pretty much 1000 bucks per light. That will get you in the ballpark at least. So, 20 lites...20k. Minimum really. The AC alone was close to 5. Electrical gets spendy too.
You can do it cheaper too, but you get what you pay for.....
Labor. Close friends and Big BBQ's, and a nice sack will allways get you labor haha. But yes, mucho work and high stress. Live for it!

Hey Hal care to elaborate on this? I see you that you have your non CO2 flower room cooled to 72 right now, what do you usually run it during flower? What relative humidity do you run your rooms at once they start to bud?

Good question.
Both rooms are CO2 capable. Hmmmmmm how to answer this......

So, both rooms are sealed. I do have exhaust and intake capibilities, but only use them rarely in the winter.

So, because the rooms are sealed, I MUST supplement CO2 at all times. When I am not elevating the levels and running higher temps, I set the CO2 to atmospheric, which is around 400 ppm. If I do not turn on the CO2, the plants will diminish the CO2 in the room in a matter of a few hours.

Temp is something we have been playing with quite a bit. During the first couple of weeks, I run elevated CO2, so my temps are at 85, but when I kill the elevated CO2 and put it back to atmospheric, I set the temp to 75-78, then drop it to 72is the last couple of weeks.

Rh stays at 50-55 during flower. During Veg I let it rise to 60-65rh.

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

 

[nvthis]

Cool to see you breaking out and running different things, bro.. That Green Ribbon sounds nice. First time I have seen it in it's pure form...

 

[Herm]

Do you run CO2 generators or do you tank it? Sorry for all the questions but I have a million more I want to ask hahha.

 

[NorCalHal]

Thanks Nvthis! I have been seeing and hearing about it for a bit now.
A dispensary in Sac touted it as "exclusive" and told me they were the only ones who had it and I could never get it. So, I had to get it...haha.

Do you run CO2 generators or do you tank it? Sorry for all the questions but I have a million more I want to ask hahha.

My room is 25' x 25' x 12', so I use a genny. Tanked would kill me.

All good, ask away. I have to trim today, so I will not be back till tonight.

 

[umbra]

Hey Hal, how is the soil /organic(?) compared to your hydro top drip? In regards to yield, ease of use, frequency of watering versus changing reservoir. Obviously you are still rockin, but does the soil produce a better product?