TDubs tiny tent

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Nothing earth shattering today.

Iā€™m learning to dislike my automation when it comes to lighting. Itā€™s been great for fans and humidifiers, but lighting is too easy to mess up. I mistakenly left the light on overnight with the flowering Purple Ghost Candy. I have no idea how the setting changed, but it did. I will rethink my automation choices before my next grow. Thereā€™s something about the old rotary timers that made them almost foolproof and that sounds very attractive at the moment. For now, I just turned the lights off and Iā€™ll give her a nice long dark period until tomorrow.

Sheā€™s starting to show budlets. I plan to trim her up below the SCROG net today, but sheā€™s filling up the 2x2 quickly.

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Fed her 1.5 gallons of nutrients. 1200 ppm going in the topā€¦.2000 ppm coming out the bottom. Vacuumed up plenty of runoff. Also gave her a nice dose of EM-1.

Current tent environmentā€¦.this is the information I see on my iPad, and where I should have caught the fact that the light was turned to ā€œonā€ instead of ā€œSCHEDā€ for night. Overall the technology is nice and very convenient, but when it fails, watch out! Iā€™ve experienced light and fan failures since automating, so I still try to watch it like a hawk. Itā€™s usually user-error, but occasionally there are software glitches too.


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I wouldnā€™t give up on the automation. Software can glitch for sure but so can our brains(oftentimes at the same time). I use a cheapo programmable power strip with a crappy interface. It actually has a ā€˜randomā€™ function on it. Who would use that and for what application? Iā€™ve lost power and screwed up programming it or even lost power and forgot to check the strip. When I have screwed up and had the lights on when they were supposed to be off, I just put the lights back on schedule and havenā€™t had a problem. It looks like you can check the settings with an app do that is much more conducive to checking things than tromping down into a basement to check things. You could set a reminder in your phone to check the status at lights on and lights off. It takes a while to reveg in my experience so one night of ā€˜oh crapā€™ can be viewed as a lesson.
 
Good Morning,
Today marks the end of two weeks of 12/12 lighting. This Sativa-heavy Purple Ghost Candy is hopefully slowing down her stretch. Iā€™m realizing that SCROG was likely my best option given how vine-like the growth is and how short my tent is (4ā€™). Iā€™ve never seen growth like thisā€¦but I usually grow indicas. I canā€™t wait to smoke this strain.

Feed per gallon: 8ml Micro / 16 ml Bloom / 2.5 ml Liquid Kool Bloom / 3.5 ml CalMag / 1300 ppm / 6.5 ph

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Iā€™m a little high on the ā€œdaily light integralā€. Iā€™ve raised the lights as high as possible using the ratchets. If I must, I can remove the LED ratchets and zip tie the LED for a few more inches of clearance. The light is 8-9 inches above the canopy and I see no visible light stress. I will monitor.
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I wouldnā€™t give up on the automation. Software can glitch for sure but so can our brains(oftentimes at the same time). I use a cheapo programmable power strip with a crappy interface. It actually has a ā€˜randomā€™ function on it. Who would use that and for what application? Iā€™ve lost power and screwed up programming it or even lost power and forgot to check the strip. When I have screwed up and had the lights on when they were supposed to be off, I just put the lights back on schedule and havenā€™t had a problem. It looks like you can check the settings with an app do that is much more conducive to checking things than tromping down into a basement to check things. You could set a reminder in your phone to check the status at lights on and lights off. It takes a while to reveg in my experience so one night of ā€˜oh crapā€™ can be viewed as a lesson.

Excellent points OldFogey! Thanks. I may use a different technology for the lights, but I still plan to automate after this grow, I have this Smart power strip where each outlet can be programmed independently using the Kasa app. I already have a lot of my house automated on the Kasa appā€¦..a very stable platform. My only concern would be the loss of internet. (Rare, but it happens). I think the light schedule is less likely to get disturbed by mistake if I remove it from the main Controller. (Itā€™s too easy to ā€œfat fingerā€ the light controls on my iPhone)



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A quick update on the ā€œlargeā€ 2x4 tent. These AC Infinity self-watering wick bases are working nicely. I might become a convert to sub-irrigated planters (SIPs). I emptied, cleaned and filled them again yesterday. I am still needing to mix nutes and fill the reservoirs daily, so itā€™s not really saving me any time at this stage of growth. But I believe the water gradient from wicking is working great, with moist soil at the bottom and progressively drier soil up top. There is no top feeding taking place. The top 2 inches of soil are dry, so these planters also prevent fungus gnats.

A larger reservoir, like the 6 gallon Octopot, will be a welcome test on my next grow. I should be able to take a few vacations here and there with that large of a reservoir.

These reservoirs also require regular cleaning. If anyone is considering these, I believe theyā€™d be difficult to use/clean in a SCROG setup. Just my impression. Hereā€™s one days of nutrients from the reservoir to prove my point. This was full (and clean) yesterday.

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And a few photos to show how short the Quadlining and LST has kept these girls. Theyā€™re at 9 days of 12/12 lighting. Quadlining involved removing the branches from the bottom two nodes, and topping above the fourth node. The four remaining branches are spread out horizontally with LST.

This has been good training for me since the 6 gallon Octopots are much taller and my tents are relatively short. (4ā€™ and 6ā€™). Below is the tent, the Godfather OG and the LA Peyote Kush. Iā€™m still trying to figure out the best type of plant training to maximize my tent. I suspect that I will go with a SCROG with the Octopots on my next grow.

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Same feed as the Purple Ghost Candy
gallon: 8ml Micro / 16 ml Bloom / 2.5 ml Liquid Kool Bloom / 3.5 ml CalMag / 1300 ppm / 6.5 ph

Also placed an order for 3 GroTech GroBucket inserts to convert 5 gallon buckets into sub-irrigated planters. Theyā€™re cheap and appear to be highly effective at growing cannabis. I will attempt my first outdoor grow with produce. (Tomatoes and jalapeƱo peppers) They only have a one gallon reservoir, so they require regular refills.. Canā€™t wait to try them out this summer.

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I planted a White Widow seed a few weeks ago for the sole purpose of trying quad lining. I just skimmed back through your notes to compare. I feel like I am headed in the right direction.
 
A quick update on the ā€œlargeā€ 2x4 tent. These AC Infinity self-watering wick bases are working nicely. I might become a convert to sub-irrigated planters (SIPs). I emptied, cleaned and filled them again yesterday. I am still needing to mix nutes and fill the reservoirs daily, so itā€™s not really saving me any time at this stage of growth. But I believe the water gradient from wicking is working great, with moist soil at the bottom and progressively drier soil up top. There is no top feeding taking place. The top 2 inches of soil are dry, so these planters also prevent fungus gnats.
Wondering if you could get a float valve into those little reservoirs, then supply them from a larger reservoir filled with pre-mixed nutes. I had one pump on a timer in a 20 gallon srotage bin feed several pots and top off a 30 gallon DWC for the week or two I was in Jamaica last summer. It would have been perfect except for the spider mite invasion that happened in my absence : )
 
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I planted a White Widow seed a few weeks ago for the sole purpose of trying quad lining. I just skimmed back through your notes to compare. I feel like I am headed in the right direction.
Looking great to me @Flower! Yes, I believe the next steps are some low stress training for those branches as they spread out, and removing ā€œinward facingā€ leaves as they appear to open up the inside of the plant. I was a little slow to get my branches staked down.

They sure did stay short though.
 
Wondering if you could get a float valve into those little reservoirs, then supply them from a larger reservoir filled with pre-mixed nutes. I had one pump on a timer in a 20 gallon srotage bin feed several pots and top off a 30 gallon DWC for the week or two I was in Jamaica last summer. It would have been perfect except for the spider mite invasion that happened in my absence : )
Hmmmmā€¦ā€¦thatā€™s an interesting idea thatā€™s beyond my skill set. I have zero technical skills, so I couldnā€™t rig that up. I have seen other Sub Irrigated Planters with central reservoirs like the Octopot here. These reservoirs that I am using are short and small, so I donā€™t know if a float valve would fit.

I guess you could also rig an aquarium pump on a timer to run for 1-2 minutes per day. Might be a little overflow to deal with, but that would allow one to get more than 2 days out of these self-watering bases.
 

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What a beautiful bush of a plant... this is gonna look epic in a few weeks.. pulling up a bean bag to watch.

awesome job my brother
Thank you Carty! I still donā€™t know what to expect from this plant training. I was hoping to improve my yield and get a flat canopy without the use of a SCROG net. I succeeded at staying short, but they may not produce much. Theyā€™re proving to be Amazingly short for 7 weeks of veg and 11 days of 12/12 lighting. (11 inches tall).
 
Week 3 of flower started yesterday for the Purple Ghost Candy. She was being quadlined, but I snapped off a primary branch leaving her with only three main branches. I almost gave up on her, but I decided to flower her in my short 4ā€™ tall veg tent. Iā€™m using a SCROG net with this one because the tent is short. I donā€™t think a normal ā€œquadlineā€ needs trellis netting because theyā€™re shorter, but Iā€™m not sure about that. Iā€™ll be moving her to a new tent with more light on Monday as I think the edges of this tent are dim even with my sidelights.

I know a lot of people top their plants using a wide variety of methods, but Iā€™m not sure Iā€™m familiar with the best technique for maximizing yield. I canā€™t grow too tall. My strategy for my next grow, which changes by the hour, is to use Quadlining under a SCROG net in the 2x4 tent with two 6-gallon Octopots. That would only take 7-8 weeks of veg to fill a 2x4 trellis net. Iā€™m guessing here, but it seems to have been effective in this case. Iā€™m always open to new techniques. Since Iā€™ll be using Octopots on the next grow, the plants will be locked in place from beginning to end (might as well SCROG then).

Hereā€™s flower Week 0 vs. start of week 3 just for comparison.

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Iā€™ll also be converting my small 2x2x4 drying tent into a flowering tent. I won a few dollars off the purchase of a small ViparSpectra tent that I now use as a drying tent. I decided to follow it up with a purchase of their 150 watt XS1500. Itā€™s not my dream light, but it should work extremely well in this space. Iā€™m usually an AC Infinity fan and this wonā€™t be controllable with the AC Infinity controller on this tent. However, this LED had more flower power (150 watts vs 130 watts), a better par map and a much lower price (under 100). I hope I donā€™t regret it.

That frees up my AC Infinity 2x2x4 tent and the lower-power LED for vegging since power itā€™s not as important. Everything else on this tent consists of parts that I had laying aroundā€¦..a true Frankenstein build that fortunately cost very little to put together. I know itā€™s still a small garden, but itā€™s now 33% larger than it was yesterday! Exciting times here.

The par map, at 14 inches, delivers within the range of 500-1050 par (as Iā€™ve read that to be the minimum/maximum goal using the Photone app) on my 2x2 footprint. To add even more light to the corners, I already owned these cheap Amazon 45 watt LED strips so I added them for side lighting. (11 watts per strip). I attached magnets with double sided tape to each endā€¦..and I magnetically attached them to the poles and fabric. Itā€™s an AC Infinity knock off for less than half the price. The new LED arrives on Mondayā€¦.then Iā€™ll attempt to move the Purple Ghost Candy SCROG to the new tent.

Wowā€¦.this hobby just keeps getting more involved, but Iā€™m loving every minute of it.

The veg tent will be busy soon enough preparing for tomato season and the next round of Octopots.

Here is the par map and LED side lighting install.

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The PGC is looking great. I loved the structure of the plant when I grew it.
Yours is gonna be gorgeous in a few weeks.
 
I saw an ad for a seed supplier looking for people to grow their gear in exchange for free seeds. I clicked on the link figuring ā€œwhat the hell do I have to loseā€. Little did I expect an answer, let alone a positive one. Net result, they let me pick out four strains for my next grow! Iā€™m excited to try some new strains. I have room to grow three and I will probably grow all except the GG4 this time. Iā€™ll be growing them in Octopots and GroBucketsā€¦.a new grow technique for me. Iā€™m growing in coco next time, so I have a lot to learn about feeding in coco. I may completely butcher this grow with so many changesā€¦.but I am excited to try something new. (This is my only hobby)

Ganja Farmer Seeds - Gelato Cake - Opakowanie:
Ganja Farmer Seeds - Gorilla GG4 - Opakowanie:
Ganja Farmer Seeds - Lemonade Haze - Opakowanie:
Ganja Farmer Seeds - Zkitzz - Opakowanie:

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Making more tent changes as the garden is undergoing improvements. I started by moving my inline filter and fan from the floor to the top of the tent in the 2x4. I was worried about plant height, but i now have a good process in place with Quadlining where i donā€™t need to worry about headroom. (Famous last words). I wanted to make sure the tent was dialed in before adding the filter.

Also replacing the ViparSpectra 2x2x4 tent with an AC Infinity 2x2x6 tent. Iā€™ve tried, but the 4ā€™ tall tent isnā€™t big enough for the new sub irrigated buckets that i plan to run. The extra two feet of height is a huge difference. Iā€™ll save this small 2x2x4 tent for dryingā€¦..the original purpose of this tent when I bought it. The 4ā€™ tent was a stupid purchaseā€¦..live and learn.

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And a quick update on Godfather OG. She picked up 4 inches this week from 11ā€ to 15ā€ tall.

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The LA Peyote Kush is up to 15ā€ too. Plenty of bud sitesā€¦.waiting for flowers.

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