My first grow: Gorilla Glue #4

[FishCityFunk]

Hey GWE growers, I started my first grow in May 2017 after talking to a buddy who grows MM and finding GWE. Now, planning to start my 2nd grow I wanted to post my grow journal in hopes of getting feedback and shared experiences. Overall I think I did well, despite some bugs and small mistakes.

I'll try to wrap each week into a single post and finish up the journal in the next week or two. Follow along and comment away!

[FishCityFunk]

Setup and Week1 Veg:

My MM grower buddy and GWE were my 2 main resources, so thanks go out to them! In April 2017 I purchased my supplies (see signature) and setup the day before a week-long vacation to Jamaica. Yes, while relaxing in Jamaica half my (baked) mind was on my soon-to-be-starting grow.

I received a GG4 clone in coco from a friend on the last day of April and brought her home to the tent. Started on 18/6 light schedule, using the viparspectra blue and white dials @ 50%, 40" above the soil level. Temp for week1 ranged 65-75F and RH ranged 35-45%. Fed half strength GH week1veg mix, with ph'd water every 3rd feed (5.5-6.5ph in and out). Looking for 10-20% runoff every watering, and testing wastewater ph.

By end of week1veg I had some drooping leaves (overwatering, like a noob), but was starting to see some new growth. I was dialing in the tent/growspace, using a humidifier to get the RH up a bit, and spraying (precautionarily) with 50/50 H2O2/dH20.

When I made my 2nd batch of nuteH20 I realized that I hadn't multiplied my nutes x # gallons (dumb considering I was a good chemistry student). I bought a pipette, which I would highly recommend for mixing nutes accurately. I use 2 5-gal water cooler-type bottles to mix and store my water and weekly nutes, then a 1gal watering can to water.

[Jason]

Very nice set up. I use the GH Flora trio. I changed from spoons to 3 ml plastic pipettes for measuring. Its very easy to draw 2.5 ml per fill. 2.5 happens to divide evenly into all the necessary measurements for the Flora Trio. Count your squirts and you're done. 5, 7.5, 10 and 15 ml's all divide by 2.5. Precise and easy.
I don't keep pH UP around. I let the nutes naturally range up after feeding, due to the air from the air stone.

[starramus]

Waiting with bated breath for more pics.

[Jason]

Looking forward to your posts. Very interested in Gorilla Glue. I'm about to harvest two girls of Gorilla Glue + Blueberry = Blue Glue. Flowers are very hard and gooey.
Will start flushing in the coming days.
Early tests suggest a strong couch lock experience.

[starramus]

I have been contemplating crossing White Russian with Gorilla Glue this coming Spring. = White Gorilla? or Russian Guerilla? The possibilities are endless, but with those two hard hitting strains the final product should be "uplifting".

[FishCityFunk]

Week2 Veg:
Temps ranged 70-75F and RH 35-38%. Finally stopped overwatering halfway through week2, alternating between half strength GH week1veg mix and ph'd water. I still had leaf droop and possibly some nutrient/Ca deficiency or low humidity? (mottled leaves), so upped the nutes a bit. Added B-care root boost and upped the cal-mag to 4mL/g. Gradually moved light down a few inches/day from 30" above soil to 14", while increasing blue and white spectrum dials to 100% and red to 25% (following user manual). Halfway through week2 I really started seeing new growth daily. I began relatively agreesive LST on the last day of week2, which in hindsight was probably too early.

LST at end of week2? Yup. From everything I'd read and heard, GG4 is a big stretcher and I knew LED lights needed a greater distance from tops... so I was hell-bent on keeping this plant low and wide. I think you'll agree over the coming posts that I succeeded

[FishCityFunk]

Thanks Campesino. I actually finished this grow in August, but I'm posting it now so I can get tips before grow #2.

I took a look at your journal. That's a badass setup, and great camerawork. I've always liked the idea of manifolding, maybe in the future.

[Campesino]

Thanks Fish!
GG4 was a great plant to manifold. So much easier that the Skywalker OGs I have in the back.
I'm going to follow here to see how your buds came out!

[FishCityFunk]

I can send you pics of my finished product if you'd like. Granted, I only have this one grow under my belt so I'm as novice as they come, but I know what I'd do differently with the benefit of hindsight. Your 3 GG4s look super happy.

[FishCityFunk]

Week3 Veg:
Temps ranged 80-85, and RH 35-50, so I put an AC in a nearby window --> temps 70-75 and RH back in high 30s. Feeding full strength GH week2veg, alternating feeds and pH'd water. Lights 14"-18" with blue&white spectrums @ 80% and red between 10-30%. Watching for light burn because I had to spray the leaves...

LST'd pretty aggressively since she seemed to like it. Topped on day1 of week3 and removed some lower leaves that weren't looking great or getting much light. On day2 of week3...APHIDS! I'm used to these on my tomatoes, peppers and roses, but inside a tent in my attic? WTF! I guess they could have been in the coco I got with the clone or found their way in with the humidity source. Either way, I crushed about 5-8 over first 2 days and sprayed with 1/3 90% OH and 2/3 dH2O. This seemed to do the trick... for a while.

By end of week3 branches were wider than her pot, so I tossed her in a 7gal SmartPot (and platform for drainage) with CycoPearl coco. It took a while to sufficiently moisten the coco (a few waterings with no runoff), but as soon as her roots sensed the extra room she really took off (you'll see in next post). This is where things really started getting fun.

[starramus]

You might contact wherever you got the clone, and query whether they have an aphid problem. Always best to track down the source of fricken bugs. Be on the lookout with any future acquisitions from that source.

[FishCityFunk]

Week4 Veg:
Temps 71-75F, RH 38-48%. Alternating GH week3veg full stength nutes and ph'd water. It took a few days to get the coco saturated so that I'd get runoff. Will flush my coco before next transplant I guess.Slight yellowing between leaf veins, perhaps light burn or nutrient deficiency. Moved lights up to 25" above soil by end of week, with 100% B&W spectrum, 40% red. Once settled I reapplied the LST and kept adding wire ties, including bending over the top. Removed some growth from lower stem area. Originally planned to veg only 4 weeks but decided on a 5th week to get her to fill out the tent and I was working on a air intake filter system (next post).

[FishCityFunk]

Week5 Veg (actually 9 days) then FLIP:
Temps mid 70s, RH mid-high 40s. Light 20-22" above soil, B&W 100%, red 40-50%. Alternate GH week3veg with ph'd water, about every 2 or 3 days as coco dries out. Usually needs 1.25-1.5gal to produce 10-20% runoff. pH in of 5.8 gives pH out of about 6.2 consistently.

Defoliated some lower leaves and growth sites near the lower part of stem (won't get light, why let them grow further). Killed 5 more aphids (at this point I should have nuked her with something stronger than alcohol, now I know). Built a SCROG with pvc and trellis netting, aiming for 6-8" above soil height (I was afraid of the stretch leaving me without vertical room in tent). Could no longer get watering can to soil level so I built a funnel-hose-showerhead rig that I'd poke through the canopy/SCROG. Obnoxious but it worked. (Planning a grav-fed auto water system for grow#2).

Since the tent is in a room with a cat litter box (dust and cat hair) and I was super nervous of light/herming, I bought 2 MERV12 furnace air filters, spray foamed them into their box, cut open the 'intake' side and used a duct to get air from that box into the tent (will try to take a better pic if anyone is interested). My 200 CFM fan really sucked the tent sides in at this point, possibly something to remedy. Also taped black contractors bags to outside of tent to block light during 'night' (7p-7a) during flower. Paranoid much? Maybe.

Anyway, once I got this all setup it was time to FLIP! June 7 was her first day of week1flower, with 100% R,B and White spectrums, at 21" above soil.

[starramus]

As with most hobbyist's mind sets you certainly have an elaborate set up for a first grow. How can you possibly fail with all of this overkill? You might get rid of that cat though. "Just about everything I know I learned from GWE. Awesome resource!"
I started out without any external advice as none existed online anyway as there was no internet. I blundered my way through with Miracle Grow, but still harvested 8 good plants with potent weed. GWE has certainly fine tuned my growing abilities. 420 thumbs up to Nebula and Sirius.

[FishCityFunk]

That's how I am with a new hobby... Entry level kayak? Nah, I'll take the sea kayak with the bells and whistles I figured I'm gonna annoy the wife and smell up the house a bit, might as well go all in. I think I've read most of GWE's content, but never saw the forum til last week. I'm super encouraged by all the help and shared experience on this forum!

[FishCityFunk]

Week1 Flower:
Light on full 100% of red, blue and white spectrums at 18" from top of plant. Added a 38PAR (26 true watt) AB1 bloom light. Light beam angle was pretty narrow, so center of canopy got most of it (produced interesting results upon ripening!). Temps 75-85, RH 50-60%. GH week1flower (early bloom) mix alternating with water every 2-3 days, 1.75g needed.

Tucked new vertical growth under and out the SCROG daily, pulled a few lower leaves near main stem. Crushed 2 aphids one day, 5 a few days later... Found a ladybug in my yard and gave her a new home! I considered raising the SCROG by a few inches but opted not to. The growth rate increase was amazing, and she was beginning to smell nice as well. I think this was the point where I really became enamored with this plant and new hobby!

[Locrian99]

Such a happy looking lady bug, hopefully she’s hungry too

[FishCityFunk]

Week2 Flower:
Lights at 16-18" above tops with R/B/W dials @ 100%. Temps 70-75F, RH in the 50s. ph'd water then 2 feedings of GH 'early bloom' (2 days off btwn waterings). Needs almost 2 gallons per watering now.

Tucking new growth and pulling a few leaves every day (I can't help myself from tinkering with all my plants). Saw what I thought was PM on outside of my fabric pot, but research showed that it was just salts, so NBD. New growth tips daily, preflowers on day10 of flower. Didn't see any aphids for about a week, then found/crushed 6 on one stem in back-right of tent. Seriously shoulda nuked the place at this point... Found a weird cluster of eggs under a leaf but left them alone... Stay tuned for that one! Overall, no growth issues and seeming pretty happy

[Campesino]

"but left them alone"
Bold choice!

[FishCityFunk]

You don't have to wait long J , posting the next week of my grow right now. Camp, I may have google image searched them. I wouldn't let just anyone lay eggs on my girl.

[starramus]

I think I'd cut the edge off of that leaf, and put it and those eggs in solitary confinement. A Plantosaurus might come outa one of those damn eggs. It's good to experiment, but in a controlled environment.

[FishCityFunk]

Week3 Flower: Lights at 16", R/B/W spectrums @100%. Temps 70-80, RH 55-75%, except 1 day I forgot to turn exhaust fan on, came home to a 88F, 90% RH tent. Ouch. Fed 2-2.5g of GH "mid-bloom" with b-care root+ and cal-mag, alternating pH20 every 3rd watering (2-3 days btwn waterings).

The stretch and new bud sites was crazy. My 'mystery eggs' hatched into little Gila Monsters... juvenile ladybugs. No surprise as I put one in there less than a week before. Unfortunately the 3 juves I saw crawling around couldn't keep my aphids at bay while I was away for a few nights. More on that next week...

2nd to last day of Week3 flower (day 19 flower) I pulled 20-30 leaves to improve light penetration/air flow. I used these leaves and previously picked leaves to make butter, and yes, the resulting cookies and brownies did the trick! Very surprising, but look at the trichs starting on the leaves in week3! Considered adding a 2nd SCROG but didn't need to yet.

[Campesino]

Alright, you have caught the journal up to exactly where my girls are now... Day 21 of flower... And looking very similar stage of growth. Excited to see the next few weeks!

[FishCityFunk]

Week4 Flower: Lights kept around 16-18" from tops, 100% on r/b/w dials, with red bloom light, all 12/12. Temps 70-80F, RH 55-75. Feeding GH 'mid-bloom' mix, with calmag and root+ added. 2.25g every3rd day, with plain phd water every 3rd feed. Added 2nd fan (oscillating), on bottom of tent facing up towards canopy.

I was away for 2 nights, came back and killed 10 more aphids on back branches, away for 2 more nights and they were worse. Since I was well into flower formation I wanted something safe to spray. Continued using alcohol/water mixture directly on buggy branches while researching more effective techniques. Now I know to use the heavy artillery at first sign...

Trichome production on the plant starting to go crazy. Sugar and fan leaves, stems all with trichs. Smell changing a bit (and getting stronger), I wish I had taken better notes on the smell. Despite the bugs I was super happy with growth and I think I had the nutes and feed schedule dialed in. Watering under the filled in SCROG was a huge pain. Watering can no longer did the trick, so I fashioned a funnel/hose/showerhead that I'd poke through the canopy and SCROG. Definitely looking to upgrade my watering system for grow#2.

[FishCityFunk]

Week5 Flower: Temps 70-80F, RH getting higher in flower now, 60-75%. Lights @100% r/b/w spectrum, 16-18" above center of canopy. Fed GH 'late bloom' mix with calmag and root+, 7gal coco needs 2.5 to 2.75gal each time now. Halfway through week I defoliated most lower and outer fans, and inner facing fans to increase light penetration/airflow.

Aphids were getting worse as a result of being away 4days/nights in week 4 and not nuking them yet. Kept spraying OH/water mix every other day before lights out, crushing more aphids. Removed a few "sooty" leaves and that was the last straw. I ordered Azamax and drenched soil and did localized foliar spray (7mL in 0.5g) on last day of week (day 35 of flower). Not crazy about spraying stuff on the buds, but its better than critters. Anyway, buds getting bigger, with a rosy tint. Trichs literally everywhere, and calyxes popping up. I seriously glued my forearm hair together a few days before work while defoliating, had to wear long sleeves from here on out!

I think around this point the smell went from pleasant "weed" to a stronger fuel and sour smell. For the first time I smelled her outside through the filter/exhast. Ordered a dehumidifier to give the filter more of a chance (and keep the RH below 70 for rest of flower.

[Locrian99]

yea the fuel smell. I open my door to the room with the tent and it hits you pretty hard. The door to the basement it’s noticeable. I’m not using any filters though.

[Campesino]

I have a carbon filter. Have not smelled a thing outside the tent so far (I don't vent outside, just into my office [where I try to actually work...]). But they don't smell like fuel at all yet... So, I have what about a week left before gas masks?

[Locrian99]

I don’t feel like it got real strong til probably week 6 I think.