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

[ellz]

10/05/2017:

08:00PM: Finally caught back up after the site outage. Today I adjusted the larger colas because they were leaning against the sides pretty bad so I wanted to get light (and air) all around them. I added more of my magnet hooks (I love these things!) and tied off several stalks and colas. There is literally growth EVERYWHERE! It's awesome! I am guessing I might just end up with my goal weight of 8 ounces from both plants! Only time will tell but the larger colas are really big! You can't tell from the photos but the left and right large ones are over a foot long and about as wide as a 1 liter bottle in places!

[ellz]

Side note on my reservoir...the front right plant (looking from the front of the cabinet) is dropping down into the reservoir. I have it pushed back up for the most part but there is a small gap that I couldn't get it to go into. Does anyone think the light bleed in that gap will hurt things? I could try covering it with something but the canopy is doing that too.

[ellz]

Bud close-ups from day 95. I am concerned a bit about the yellow spots on the bud leaves (seen more in the second photo).

[ellz]

10/06/2017:
11:00PM: Added about 3.5 gallons of pHed, HydroGuard water to the reservoir. Likely will be doing a change Monday. Might have some root rot forming...not sure why because the water temps are low (60ºF - 65ºF) but I may have waited too long to do a nutrient change so that could be it.

10/07/2017:
06:00PM: I bought a dehumidifier for my garage because there are a number of times at night when I have to redirect my exhaust inside (to warm the garage...overnight temps are in the mid 30s lately) and the humidity builds up because of that since I have to close the windows. This thing is a 70-pint Frigidaire and it basically reduces the humidity by 10% within a few minutes. My only worry is running it during the light period because it draws as much as 7.5A and that might pop the breaker! So I have only been using it when the light is off for now but I may test it later just to see if it trips anything. The humidity is only getting up to a max of about 56% in the middle of the plant growth at it's highest so it's not too big a concern at the present moment. There are several times that it drops down into the upper 30% range (37-39%) so it swings quite a bit. It's very difficult to keep precise because we have VERY LOW humidity where I live (about 20% or less most days) so I have to almost make humidity then remove it. It's a PITA but the plants are doing good with me doing that so I can't complain too much! Photos of the past two days below with a close up from today. Thanks for reading (those of you who are still reading...looks like I lost all my subscribers).

[ellz]

Tested the dehumidifier running with the lights and all went smooth so I set the dehumidifier to 35% (bringing the humidity inside the cabinet to around 45-50%) and set the timer for 5.5hrs so it will shut off after the light goes off. I may run it 24/7 since it barely gathers water and since I have the hose attachment to run it to an external drain. Just depends on what the weather does from here on out. Probably have about 3-4 weeks left of growing so we shall see.

[ellz]

10/08/2017:

06:30PM: Drained the reservoir and refilled it with week 11's schedule. Basically I am on the final feeding before flushing so I will run this batch for a week and then start flushing. Not sure if you add HydroGuard during the flush and since I'm not sure if anyone is following this post any more I will just guess on it probably. Not too worried about root rot at this point since there is only a few weeks left and worst case I could just cut it down early. I have attached a photo of today's progress below. Thanks for reading (if there are any of you left, lol).

Side Note: I made a stand to dry my water jugs on using a 2x4 and two 1-3/8" dowel rods. I simply bored two holes in the 2x4 and inserted the dowels I cut down to about 6 inches taller than the jug into the holes and screwed them down with 3" deck screws. Photo of it below as well.

[ellz]

You and me both! I can't believe how much they grew since veg! It's insane! I have cut back a bit already...that is curing right now but was very under developed. It was either cut it or lose it so I just cut it. I will add that weight in to the final tally but with a note on it. Should be harvesting pretty soon I hope. There is literally no more room in that cabinet! LOL!

[Graff420]

Cant remember are they 2 sativas or hybrids because i remember them when they were tiny then buut in like 4 weeks went by and they owned that cabinet

[ellz]

Graff420 They are sativa leaning hybrid I would guess. White Widow is a hybrid, Durban Poison is a sativa.

[bigtrucker315]

Wow. I like your set up.

[ellz]

Thank you

[ellz]

10/09/2017:

06:30PM: Overnight the temps dropped down in the mid 30sF and the cabinet dropped to 58ºF inside so I have the windows shut and vent directing in the garage to warm it up and the dehumidifier is running to remove any excess humidity from that. Even with humidity in the 20% range on average, that 70-pint unit was full after only a couple of days running 24/7. I may need to swap to the hose drain feature to ensure it doesn't shut off unexpectedly. Apart from the cooler weather, the plants are looking absolutely gorgeous! They smell unbelievable and are incredibly sticky! Like glue! Below are some photos from today...an overall shot, two bud close-ups and one bud close-up with my new pocket magnifier (30x mag shown). Thanks for reading.

[ellz]

10/10/2017:

06:30PM: Once again, the overnight temps were very low and even with the windows shut and the vent blowing into the garage and the dehumidifier turned OFF, the temps still dropped to 59ºF in the cabinet. I am not cool with that (forgive the pun) so I put a small space heater in the garage and turned it on low. About an hour later, the temperature was back up to 64ºF so I will likely have that come on after the light goes off. I still have another timer so I could just hook this up to it although I will have to check the amp rating of the timer because this thing can draw some power. I may splurge and get a small propane heater. They are about $80 for a small unit and use ZERO extra electricity (unless you get one with a fan...then you need batteries or an AC adapter). The heater will run for up to 6 hours on a single gallon bottle of propane and you can hook it to a larger tank should you need. For those who live in cold areas, might be worth checking out. The one I was looking at and described above can be found here: (oops...site is down as I am typing this so I will post the Amazon link...same thing, different color: https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-F23...ortable+heater)

I also had to add about 2.5 more gallons to the reservoir today. I am just using pHed, HydroGuard water from this point on, except if I use the flush solution I bought. Was curious about when to use it. Should you do it at the very end of the grow or should you do it after your last nutrient change?

Since today is day 100 from seed, and I have a nice little magnifier now, I decided to take a few pictures of the trichomes up close. Sorry about the limited zoom but I can only upload 2MB or less. Thanks for reading!

[ellz]

Magnification on those photos is 30x not 60! Can't update the post for some reason.

[ellz]

10/11/2017:

09:00PM: I changed my light schedule today from 6PM-6AM to 8PM-8AM to hopefully keep the temps a bit higher over night. I have them basically getting down to 59.6ºF at the lowest but I want them up over 60ºF so I figure changing the light to where it comes on two hours later and goes off two hours later will do just that. As an emergency backup, I also have my small space heater that can raise the temps a few degrees in less than an hour but I only use that if need be due to the power draw. Other than that, the girls are still looking good. Not much has changed besides them getting fatter and more dense, which is awesome! Still hoping to be harvesting before the last week of October but we shall see how they do over the next week or so. The pistils are finally starting to change from white to more yellow and brown in some areas, but this can only be seen in a very few places right now. Hoping to see more of that by next week but I can't rush them. They are already growing faster than I expected so I am pleased with that. Photos below. Thanks for reading!

[ellz]

10/12/2017:

09:00PM: The plants are doing great. The new light schedule is working great for keeping the temps regulated. I also bought that small propane heater because we have a threat of sub-freezing temps soon. I added 3.5 gallons of pHed, HydroGuard water to the reservoir to fill it back up. I have attached 2 pictures below. One of the overall progress and another of that big cola from yesterday, but close-up on the frost. Thanks for reading!

[ellz]

10/13/2017 - 10/17/2017:

Condensing my updates when available...
- Added pHed, HydroGuard water on the 14th and 16th. Yesterday (the 16th), the water was almost empty in the reservoir so it took all of 5 gallons to fill it back up. I checked again tonight (10/17) and it's down just less than it was this time last night. Apart from the water management and occasional tie-down placements, they are just finishing up their grow and I am patiently waiting. The pistils all appear white under the grow light but some appear red under the LED light in the magnifier and from the flash on my camera so I guess they are likely orange or brown and the red grow light bulb is blocking out that color so I see white. It's fine, because I am watching the trichomes and making sure they are right before I cut anything to harvest. Photos from the past few days below. Thanks for reading!

[Graff420]

I think we are gonna finnish at the same time id say one more week maybe 2 of ripening on mine but cant wait to see your plants all trims up and harvested to see all the giant colas

[ellz]

10/18/2017:

09:00PM: Flushed the reservoir and refilled it with 5 gallons of pHed, HydroGuard water. The plants are looking good. I think I will be cutting the in the next 2 weeks, fingers crossed!


10/19/2017:

09:00PM: PROBLEMS! SPIDER MITES!!!! Checked on the girls today with the magnifier and noticed one of the medium buds has spider mites crawling all over it! OH NO! I am so close to harvest and a spider infestation! I mixed up a batch of Neem Oil concentrate and sprayed the buds and leaves as best I could (the cabinet is very cluttered with the canopy) but I soaked the area where I saw them and re checked it and didn't see them anymore so I think the water washed them off the leaves and buds! I have attached some photos of yesterday and today, along with a pic of the bugs (though they are VERY HARD TO SEE). Hoping I don't end up smoking spider eggs instead of buds! Thanks for reading!

[ellz]

10/20/2017:

12:00AM: So the spider mite infestation is FULL BLOWN!

SO QUESTION: CAN I SMOKE THE BUD IF THERE ARE SPIDER MITES IN IT?! PLEASE TELL ME I DIDN'T JUST WASTE 4 MONTHS AND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO LOSE IT ALL IN THE LAST 2 WEEKS!!!

[ellz]

From here on out, the only updates will be from when the plant is done. I appreciate anyone that is left reading this but this will be my first and last grow journal online. Thanks all.