My First Grow Journal...EVER! 600W MH/HPS Bubbleponics Cabinet Grow

[ellz]

08/10/2017:

06:30PM: Checked on the plants today and I believe I have at least one female so far! YAY! The other 3 aren't showing sex yet but I noticed on one of the White Poison seeing some tiny little pre-flowers starting on one branch and they look female. I have attached a photo below of the plants today and that one close up but it is hard to see the preflowers in the photo. I tried to mark them as best I could so they are a bit easier to spot. I can tell you this much, the smell coming out of that cabinet is very promising! I will likely need to top off the reservoir again tomorrow with another 2 gallons or so each. I will update the thread then. Thanks for reading!

[ellz]

Thanks! As for the temps, the canopy temps are still staying in the low 80s and the reservoir temps are sitting around 70-71ºF. The groundwater temp has dropped the past few weeks making it easier to keep the reservoir temps down now. The water starts off in the upper 60s instead of the upper 70s now so that helps a ton! The new bulb is much warmer and brighter than the MH one so I turned my vortex fan up to high and it blows against the back wall then bounced to the light and over the canopy. I also adjusted my top two clip fans to blow down on the canopy. I will likely have to move the light frequently and then monitor the temps closely when I reach the max height of the light but that should still be some time away...I hope!

[Sheesh]

They look great Ellz. Nice growth spurt the last couple of weeks. How are your canopy and res temps these days? I recall your initial posts had some heat concerns and you've done a lot to manage the heat.

[alltatup]

Looking very nice, ellz!!!

[ellz]

08/09/2017:

06:30PM: Checked on the plants today and they are growing strong! I had to add 2 full gallons per reservoir or pHed, HydroGuard water. I pHed the water to ~6.3 because the reservoir was already around 5.9 and I like to have the pH go up and down so that all the nutrients get absorbed. I actually ended up adding 2.5 gallons to each one since there was room for more water in the res. Still no indication on sex yet. I guess they will let me know when they are ready. I decided to defoliate the plants a bit today since they were getting very bushy. I only removed the large fan leaves and only in places where there was excess shade from them. On some of the plants, I only removed one fan leave instead of both due to the fact that the second one wasn't really blocking anything. I ended up pulling off about a half-gallon ziploc bag's worth of leaves but the plants are still very full...just a bit more open. I have attached photos of both groups of plants below, as well as before and after of the defoliating. Thanks for reading!

[ellz]

08/08/2017:

08:00PM: Checked on the plants after I got home from kayaking and they are still going strong! I made sure the light wasn't too strong on them and it is still maxing out around 76k on the lux meter. The lower end is around 45k so that is good as well. I posted some photos below of how they look on day 2 of flowering (day 36 from seed). Still not sure about the sex. Not seeing any indicators just yet. I hope to by the end of the week. I also plan on checking the reservoir tomorrow because they will likely be down about 2 gallons each. Will update the post then. Thanks for reading!

[alltatup]

You have created a monster, ellz: beautiful!

[Daskahn]

I know yourll read it somewhere but basically defoliating allows light to lower "bud" sites increasing yield.. it also tricks the plant into putting more energy into your buds instead of leaves but yourll read that lol

i just want you to sing lollipop lollipop oh lolli lollipop while you do it lol it's stuck in my head

[ellz]

Thanks. Yeah the trunks are down there somewhere among the lettuce! LOL. At the moment, I am not going to defoliate anything because it seems to be doing really well. I am going to do some reading on defoliating tonight so my plans may change. If they do, I will update the post to reflect that.

[Daskahn]

Very nice..
few questions where are your trunks lol?
also curious to know what method of defoliation your gonna use if any?

[ellz]

END OF VEGETATIVE STAGE! Total vegetative stage time: 34 days from seed (07/05/2017 to 08/07/2017)

08/07/2017:

06:15PM: After swapping my light to the HPS bulb, I drained both reservoirs and filled them with the Week 5 batch of nutrients from my feed chart. The plants basically grew so much last night that it cut the distance between the light in half overnight!! I moved the light up a bit higher since I swapped to the HPS bulb. Once the light came on, I was able to see that the HPS bulb puts out a ton more light than the MH one did! I tested the lux at the top of my plant and it was over 90k even after moving my fixture up due to the previous night's growth so I moved the light fixture up about 2/3's of the way up and retested it and the highest reading was back down to 85k which is the max amount I want (also the most the plant can absorb). I will need to keep an eye on it once the stretch happens. With the reflective wall covering, the reading down at the bottom of the plant is still as high as 45k and that is under the shade of other leaves! That reflective film I bought is wonderful at bouncing the light! Below are the photos of the plants on their very first day in the flowering cycle! Thanks for reading.

10:20PM: I decided to raise my light up a few more clicks due to the levels of light reaching the leaves. Prior to moving the light this time, my highest lux reading was about 85k which is max for cannabis. After moving it, my highest reading was about 73k which is much better and as fast as they are growing I will likely have to adjust again soon!

[ellz]

I just drew the holes on the top, not the whole thing.

[Daskahn]

Also I like very much
Can I get a copy of ellz designs weekly? You always have such good ideas that I want to copy lol

[Daskahn]

Ok I'm not trying to troll you but holy shit you sketched that? Maybe you should be into art or art design.. I so thought it was a photo

[alltatup]

I like the fill port!! Very cool!! I WISH I could build my own stuff, but I just don't have what it takes.

I just have one suggestion: Change the name BRUTE to SWEET LOVEABLE GUY.