Small Tent, Perpetual Monthly Harvest, Auto-Flower Grow Journal (canna, coco, LED)

[Beach_Town_Brit]

This is my very first grow journal, and my first time growing auto-flowers

I've done several photo period grows over the last few years, all with the help of GWE and this forum -- thank you all.
Hopefully I learned a couple of grow things over that time, but most importantly I learned about my own reasons for growing. In short, I learned that I'm impatient, lazy, and I smoke far too much weed
These factors brought me to my current plan which is to grow 3 constantly revolving auto-flower plants in my 2x4 tent. My plan is to stagger my planting so the girls are each a month apart in age. This will hopefully give me a harvest once a month ... for the rest of time!

Anyone gracious enough to come along for the ride, please feel free to save-me-from-my-own-stupid-self at any given moment.

I live in SoCal so this is a fully legal grow. My girlfriend and I both use weed for fun and medicine.

[LuckyAcres]

Hey Brit welcome to the forum. Feel free to share all the details and pics you can, we're geeky nerds around here!

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks LuckyAcres, right here with you ... I soldered together my first computer in 1981!

[Beach_Town_Brit]

My Set-Up

2'x4' Gorilla Lite grow tent with height extension
Advanced Platinum P300 LED grow light
Dorm Grow 90W Flowering LED UFO
iPower 4" carbon filter
4" exhaust fan
Titan Controls night/day temperature based fan controller

In an effort to control expectations, here's a pic of how I rigged up my exhaust fan (it's an old cargo net from the trunk of a car):

[oldjarhead100]

here,s a odd point for every degree bend in exhaust ducting you add like 100 feet to the run. I know this to be a fact (not sure of 100 feet but I know its significant )

[Canuck147]

Hey Brit! I am growing autos myself as I too smoke lots and wants to build up a surplus before I attempt some photos with training. As well as having 5 going, I started 2 others a month later.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Ahhh I have dreamed of a surplus but alas haven't managed it with our small tent and deep lungs.
We're pretty space constrained alas, and we can cane 2ozs of weed a week if the wind is right!

[Beach_Town_Brit]

In the beginning...

I pulled one each of Nirvana auto Blue Mystic and auto Bubbleicious seeds from my fridge stash a couple of days ago to let them warm up to room temperature.
Yesterday morning I put them in Ph'd, filtered water in shot glasses to soak. I use a Brita water filter to filter my tap-water and Ph Down to adjust my PH.
Then last night after the seeds had been soaking for about 9 hours I potted them.

I'm using a trick I learned on the internet somewhere, which is to plant your solo cup with its bottom cut off in your bigger pot. This allows your seed to sprout and grow out within the confines of the solo cup in its initial days, then you just remove the solo cup once the seedling is ready to take on the full pot. To aid in removing the solo cups later I also snipped the bottom of the solo cup twice and marked where the snips were with a marker (2 snips opposite one another). Once the seedlings are ready I'll snip the top edge of the solo at the marks and then gently tear the cup's sides downwards. Once the solo cup is in two halves it's easy to slide out and your seedling has been re-potted with the absolute minimum of trauma ... in theory ...

I'm using coco/perlite mix. I re-use my coco from previous grows. The fabric pots are 3 gallon off-brand "smart pots."

I watered the outer medium with Ph'd water plus CalMag and Cannazym. This was probably unnecessary but I wanted to prime the medium and the Cannazym is supposedly good when re-using coco.

I very lightly watered the solo cup medium with plain Ph'd water and set a couple of half water bottles on top of them to act as humidity domes.

I reset my light timer for 20/4 light cycle -- on at 6pm, off at 2pm. I left it in the off position last night so that the seeds would have nearly a full day of darkness before the lights come on.

For now I am only using my P300, at about 28" from the top of the pots, and with only the veg switch on. The idea being to start the plants off with slightly less light intensity for the first few days.

[Canuck147]

All sounds real good. Priming the medium is a good idea. I do it. Good way to entice roots down and around, and you also only have to spot water the little growing alien making its way for the light.

[NA420]

Seems like you have your ducks in order sir! I too grow perpetually and i just figured out my schedule (without autos, I use clones like autos). You want to be starting a new seed or clone every 4 weeks, the cycle goes in 4's anyway, and you harvest at 8 weeks so when you take a girl out for harvest you put a new one into flower. You will also have one already halfway through the flowering cycle so you harvest monthly! Hope this helps good luck with the grow. Peace and positive vibes!

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks NA420 I was running perpetual photos before and found myself on a similar schedule. Ultimately, I just found it took too long for me and most importantly was taking up too much space.

[Weed Pharma]

I am dialing in a perpetual auto garden as my photo's finish up over the next 6 weeks. Your set up is close to mine, but I'll offer my differences:

I plant the seed directly in a germination bag- which is buried in the final pot. No soaking/transplant etc. just plant the seed and sprouts in 3-4 days. I never use a humidity dome or spray/mist on seeds.
I will have the pot (roots organic original) under 1/2 wattage light (@20/4) for the first three weeks- (25 day cycle) then move to the final tent adding a flowertab.
No other nutrients are needed, unless a deficiency is found.

This will create approximately 15 crops a year, yielding about 2 lbs annually.
My tent can hold 4 x 2 gallon pots - so each crop is 2 plants, expecting 1+oz per plant.

I will try 3 gal pots once I get it going, to see if it will fit in a 20x36x62 tent-

I have grown Nirnava's auto Bubblicious and had good results on the first (water only) crop.
The last grow didn't look like bubblicious at all.
I suspect chronic under-watering as I was trying out another container and will go back to the nursery pots I am accustom to.

[Weed Pharma]

This is the one I use:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seed-Germinate-Sprout-Plant-Cutting-Clone-Grow-Pot-Fabrics-Bag-Breathable-/271911898263?var=&hash=item3f4f364c97

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Awesome, do you just get the smallest one?
Do you know what's in them?

[Weed Pharma]

I use the 4" x 5 5/58" and cut about an inch off the length (top).
When I use them for clones I keep them whole- and they go into the bottom of a cut 20oz soda bottle until I see roots.
I will be posting a pictured tutorial, hopefully next week on how I do it.

[LuckyAcres]

Thanks Sir for all the details! Like the others said you're all dialed in, looking forward to watch your grow! Just out of geekee...hmmm... curiosity which Titan do you use?

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Hey Acres, it's the Spartan series fan controller. It allows you to set target day and night temps. Christmas present from my family Gotta love that amazon wishlist.
Just realized I can't post a pic in a comment, I'll post one below.

[Royal Nugs]

Subbed! Can't wait to see em grow!

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks Nugs, I look forward to any feedback you can offer. I'm a tad concerned about yield from the autos.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Here's my Spartan Series temperature based fan speed controller. It has two temp dials that allow you to set target temperatures for day and night, and it then adjusts your fan speeds to try and maintain those temps. It determines day and night with a light sensor which is very useful because it means it follows day and night in your tent regardless of the actual time of day. There's also a switch that allows you to adjust how sensitive it is and how much leeway the unit will give on target temperatures.

[Royal Nugs]

Very cool. I wish I had a no limits budget to spend on a grow setup. I dream about it all the time.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

I'm with you Royal Nugs : ) When my lottery ticket comes in I'm getting a beach house with a huge Victorian style conservatory/greenhouse looking out to sea. It'll be a fully computerized, climate controlled grow, and I'll have a really good reading/smoking chair. Oh and a maid who can make a decent cup of tea and a proper Victoria sponge cake.

We can but dream

[Tika]

Wonderful! I'm subbed too.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks Tika, let's hope they sprout...

[ButtyBach]

In the beginning...

I pulled one each of Nirvana auto Blue Mystic and auto Bubbleicious seeds from my fridge stash a couple of days ago to let them warm up to room temperature.
Yesterday morning I put them in Ph'd, filtered water in shot glasses to soak. I use a Brita water filter to filter my tap-water and Ph Down to adjust my PH.
Then last night after the seeds had been soaking for about 9 hours I potted them.

I'm using a trick I learned on the internet somewhere, which is to plant your solo cup with its bottom cut off in your bigger pot. This allows your seed to sprout and grow out within the confines of the solo cup in its initial days, then you just remove the solo cup once the seedling is ready to take on the full pot. To aid in removing the solo cups later I also snipped the bottom of the solo cup twice and marked where the snips were with a marker (2 snips opposite one another). Once the seedlings are ready I'll snip the top edge of the solo at the marks and then gently tear the cup's sides downwards. Once the solo cup is in two halves it's easy to slide out and your seedling has been re-potted with the absolute minimum of trauma ... in theory ...

I'm using coco/perlite mix. I re-use my coco from previous grows. The fabric pots are 3 gallon off-brand "smart pots."

I watered the outer medium with Ph'd water plus CalMag and Cannazym. This was probably unnecessary but I wanted to prime the medium and the Cannazym is supposedly good when re-using coco.

I very lightly watered the solo cup medium with plain Ph'd water and set a couple of half water bottles on top of them to act as humidity domes.

I reset my light timer for 20/4 light cycle -- on at 6pm, off at 2pm. I left it in the off position last night so that the seeds would have nearly a full day of darkness before the lights come on.

For now I am only using my P300, at about 28" from the top of the pots, and with only the veg switch on. The idea being to start the plants off with slightly less light intensity for the first few days.

Wow! Organised be fucked. Fair Play to you

I take it you are going to be hand feeding. Do you use Cannazym throughout the grow? Interesting that you reuse the coco.
Great tip on growing the seedlings in a larger pot. I usually start mine in jiffy plugs, I suppose it will still work. Especially with autos.

Exciting times ahead for you, lokking forward to joining you on the journey.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks ButtyBach We'll see if I can keep it up : )

I do use Cannazym throughout. I try to follow the light feeding schedule from canna

[ButtyBach]

Here's my Spartan Series temperature based fan speed controller. It has two temp dials that allow you to set target temperatures for day and night, and it then adjusts your fan speeds to try and maintain those temps. It determines day and night with a light sensor which is very useful because it means it follows day and night in your tent regardless of the actual time of day. There's also a switch that allows you to adjust how sensitive it is and how much leeway the unit will give on target temperatures.

This has got to be my next investment. My temps and humidity are all over the shop.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

It's a new device for me so we'll see how effective it is in such a small tent and with only a 4" extractor fan. My tent is in an upstairs bedroom in SoCal so it can get really hot up there during the summer. It's rarely cold here but a couple of days ago my temp dropped to 57F, hopefully only briefly.

[oldjarhead100]

sh it Beach i'm happy when my temp gets up to 57 lol

[ButtyBach]

Wow 57F, you must have been freezing. Have you emigrated? Just in time if you did. Trump sure is shaking things up.
Ive got the opposite problem, keeping it warm. The temps have been all over the place this year. Been really difficult keeping them right. It shows too. My babies look dreadful.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Yeah my life these days occurs between 72 and 85 F
I emigrated to the US a long time ago now.
I have done weather before though, a couple of decades of rain in England, some winters in Wisconsin, Chicago, Ohio.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Girls both popped yesterday, looking good, I'll do a journal update with pics and details in the week. Hope everyone had a stoney weekend.