400w HID in a 3x3 ft space

[Toker1]

So I got off to a late start on this journal. The strain is white buffalo by king Klone’s blu line up.
I am using fox farm happy frog x fox farm ocean forest and pearlite for the first 2 weeks. I took over 9 clones and put them all in soil solo cups. They sat under my 24w blue cfl until the roots poked out of the bottoms. Typically I like to transplant into 1 gallon, then move up to 3 gallon... but I had limited time this grow and they went straight into 3 gallons (only Fox farm ocean forest and pearlite at this stage). I took the best 9 clones I had and topped them all once at final transplant, bent a few larger branches (LST) in the first week of veg and let them grow for 2-3 weeks under my 400w MH. Here you see them in week 1 of flower.
I will be doing some clean up work tonight, defoiling and removing lower undergrowth. I like the MH for the first week to reduce stretching. I will be switching over to my 400w HPS soon.

[Juicyj89]

Okay so I didn’t realize these were clones. Does that make a huge difference?

[Toker1]

Yes. Using clones gives a more uniform canopy, cola size, and growth rate.
I have grown this phenotype before, so I know when all 9 will be finished and the quality to expect from the grow.
Lastly, they will all finish at around the same time. So that’s a major advantage as well.

[Juicyj89]

Toker1, so I came back this morning and one of my GSC was like laying over like it had wilted or something?? I’m going to research but what do you think caused this?

[Toker1]

Hmm. Could be a few things.
Are you getting proper soil drainage? What kind of soil are you using?
What is the RH like inside the grow room where the plant was?

[Juicyj89]

Never mind I’m pretty sure I figured it out. Damping off. Can’t believe it happened to my GSC. Freakin sucks. Never had this happen before and of course it’s with a good seed. Ugh. What can I do to prevent this? Or is there any real preventative measures? Because I definitely don’t over water and my soil contains sphagnum peat moss. So there shouldn’t be too much excess moisture. Idk. The other ones alright so far. I just don’t want the same to happen to my blue widow.

[Toker1]

It’s quite common in soil to not get proper drainage. I’m guessing this was the culprit. I’ll put a few holes into the bottom of the cup, layer the bottom of the cup with an inch of pearlite. This prevents the soil from blocking/clogging up the drainage holes. I also mix a good amount of pearlite into the soil. This is necessary to prevent soil clumping, and oxygen deprived zones inside the soil. I also water with a turkey baster during the first week or so. They only need a few drips of water once or twice per day at this stage. I only water till run off for day 1. It’s just drips of water for the next week or so after that. This allows the roots to establish and prevents overwatering.
Hope that helps.

[Juicyj89]

So is there no saving my plant?

[Toker1]

When it’s wilted and slumped over... most of the time it’s done. I have revived a sprout or two by misting it twice per day with water and raising the RH. If it is dampening, that’s usually due to infection. I have cut off infected stems on clones before. Sometimes it works, and sometimes the infection just comes back.
You can try a 1% solution of H2o2 as a root drench. But with young plants like this...most likely it’s gone.

[Redwasp]

Now that's a crowded tent. Lol

[Toker1]

Lol. I started thinning it out a bit last night. Will continue more this weekend. I’ll take more Picts after.

[Juicyj89]

Hey bro those plants are too green. Haha nah but really they look so healthy. I can’t wait to see how this turns out. I really want to try clones. But I’ve got to be able to make it that far first....so I just wanted to post the one and only GSC..and I’m still not sure it will make it. Just waiting...but super concerned about her weird lean/curve she has going on. Maybe it just...shit...idk?? Could you help? Sorry 😐

-juice

[Toker1]

She looks great though. Maybe a little slumped, but that can happen when they get a bit top heavy. I sometimes add a bit of silica (1/2 recommended strength) to a single watering and it perks up the stem a bit. If that doesn’t do it, then I make a support structure in the soil.

[Juicyj89]

Thanks man. That’s quite a relief to hear. And okay I’ll look into that. And if I don’t see her straightened up by morning, I’ll at least use a support.

[Toker1]

Did a little cleaning up today. Removing the lower and insignificant growth, plus defoiling a bit, really relieved the over crowding issue I had when I got back home after 1 week of being away from the garden.

[Juicyj89]

So Toker1, they seem so skinny? Like lanky? No offense! Because I know you know what you’re doing. But could you maybe explain why they are and how much do you expect to yield? Thanks.

[Toker1]

Yes...about 6-7 ozs.
I was going for a fast turn around this grow. Typically I do less plants with more veg time in there. This time I needed a harvest quickly. So more plants and less veg time this grow.

[Toker1]

Might be good to note that I know how much abuse this WB phenotype can take. Some strains are finicky, but this is a hearty plant that is quite vigorous. I would not recommend stripping a strain down to its bare bones like this if they can not handle stress.

[Toker1]

End of week 2 today. I added some red side lighting to enhance the spectrum of the HPS. Last few weeks of flower I will switch out the red for UV bulbs.

[Toker1]

Into week 4 now.

[Juicyj89]

Dang bro! Gettin chunky already!

[Toker1]

Thanks man. I did find an issue with that MH bulb I was using during veg. It was new, so I need to return it due to this malfunction. Turns out it was flickering a bit during the veg cycle. Going from bright to dim with no human input during lights on. I think it caused a bit of stretching and spaced out the nodes a bit more than I like. But none the less the WB is a champ and handles stress fairly well. Pretty hearty plant with great vigor. Looking forward to see what she gives me at the end of this year.

[cardshooter]

Nice looking little grow Toker1. Clean and simple. Seems the more high-tech I get, the less I get LOL Thought it was suppose to be the other way around. I'm into wk 6 of the flower and may have found out a little late that my run off PH is crap out of the coco coir. Been having a slow grow but it took me a while to put 2 and 2 together and check my runoff. I'm also planning on hanging some uv over 1 plant to see what happens. How do you like the results of the uv?

[Toker1]

I’m still blasting them with the red spectrum. Switching out the red bulbs for the UV bulbs this week. I’ll keep you informed about the progress.

[cardshooter]

Be looking forward to it Toker1

[Toker1]

Switching out the red bulbs for UV tonight. I’ll snap some Picts. after all is said and done. I plan on hitting the girls for 15 min every 2 hours with UV during lights on. There is approximately 3 weeks left in flower.

[LurkingInTheGrass]

Thank you for taking the time to document your experiment. I appreciate it

[Toker1]

Yup. You got it. I almost splurged on a CMH light, hearing the all the hype. After copiously researching, I think I can obtain optimal results. Let’s see how she takes to it.

[Toker1]

So I had to pull back my girls with ties and also had to tie the t5’s to the tent bars. Finally got the minimum recommend distance of 10” from the canopy. I put the UV bulbs on a recycle timer for 15 min on and 2 hrs off. Here are some bud Picts from today. This is the end of week 4 and beginning of week 5 today. I typically start seeing amber at around week #7 on this phenotype.

[Toker1]

UV is up and running as planned. Time to sit back and watch what happens. I’ll be inspecting twice per day (mornings and nights) looking for burning or adverse reactions to the UV light.

[LurkingInTheGrass]

Dayum

They sure are purty plants 😁

Those rails look sweet, crossing my fingers, wishing green thoughts


Tell the truth now, you run the girls under the plain UV?
Letting them dance, naked, in the pale moonlight

[Toker1]

Thanks!
Yes, the t5 UV bulbs are bare. The HPS is behind glass in an air cooled hood.

[Mohsen228]

growing weed ain't cheap.i was thinking about portable nuclear reactor.that would be enough 👍

[Toker1]

Lol. Been thinking about going solar myself.
Agreed, it’s an expensive hobby.