Before you look at the pictures (which are admittedly not all that great), Let me tell you about this grow...and how IT messed up and I messed up and now I'm in a very steep learning curve.
I'm new to Earthboxes and I kind of winged it as far as soil and amendments. I had a rough time germinating for this grow and lost a few seeds. Not my first rodeo so I kept getting back on and trying. I have two Earthboxes in a 3 x 3 tent. Not ideal to start with as I can't get to the back of the tent for defoliating or training. I have two boxes on my deck and the herbs and tomatoes were to die for. So I grabbed two more and in the tent they went. I bought a bunch of Earth Dust as they were going away and still have about two more grows in reserve. This mix was about half pre-used soil, Ocean Forest, compost, castings, Dolomite, Epsom, 3-4-4 organic fertilizer and equal amounts of Earth Dust Base and Bloom.
I'm lighting with a Mars TSW 2000. There are two oscillating fans and a T4 venting (all AC Infinity and on the controller 67 and 69). The boxes are set up with the Automatic Watering System and it couldn't be simpler.
Now for the problem...and it is a big one from my perspective. I'm aware of the power of the Earthbox but hadn't seen it in action until now. After a typically slow start in soil, once they found their edges (and the fertilizer strip) off they went. These are all autoflowers. My last grow was a GSC Auto and it had one bud, 7" long, and a couple grams of product. The plant in front in the box is from the same packet. On September 1st it was 12 1/2" tall. On the 17th it was 42" tall and in the light!!! The back plant is Purple Hulk Auto. On the 1st it was 14" tall. On the 19th it was 47" tall. I've been supercropping like crazy but these things don't want to stop. I'm sure the light was too far away early on and hence the stretch. I have lots of budlets but many are above the light and many more are just below the canopy and not getting enough light.
The lone plant on the left is a DoSiDos auto. I rigged up the clamp light (26w curly bulb) to slow the stretch on it since it was nearly in full darkness due to the two bigger plants. It seems to have worked and I'll likely top and train that one since I can reach it.
My light is now firmly at the top of the tent (with enough space for some air flow over the top). I already removed the casters on the boxes for about 2" more space. These big ones are 50 days old and should be well into flower mode but they were so busy growing they're late...and tall...so I plug away. And do it My waaaay.
I'm new to Earthboxes and I kind of winged it as far as soil and amendments. I had a rough time germinating for this grow and lost a few seeds. Not my first rodeo so I kept getting back on and trying. I have two Earthboxes in a 3 x 3 tent. Not ideal to start with as I can't get to the back of the tent for defoliating or training. I have two boxes on my deck and the herbs and tomatoes were to die for. So I grabbed two more and in the tent they went. I bought a bunch of Earth Dust as they were going away and still have about two more grows in reserve. This mix was about half pre-used soil, Ocean Forest, compost, castings, Dolomite, Epsom, 3-4-4 organic fertilizer and equal amounts of Earth Dust Base and Bloom.
I'm lighting with a Mars TSW 2000. There are two oscillating fans and a T4 venting (all AC Infinity and on the controller 67 and 69). The boxes are set up with the Automatic Watering System and it couldn't be simpler.
Now for the problem...and it is a big one from my perspective. I'm aware of the power of the Earthbox but hadn't seen it in action until now. After a typically slow start in soil, once they found their edges (and the fertilizer strip) off they went. These are all autoflowers. My last grow was a GSC Auto and it had one bud, 7" long, and a couple grams of product. The plant in front in the box is from the same packet. On September 1st it was 12 1/2" tall. On the 17th it was 42" tall and in the light!!! The back plant is Purple Hulk Auto. On the 1st it was 14" tall. On the 19th it was 47" tall. I've been supercropping like crazy but these things don't want to stop. I'm sure the light was too far away early on and hence the stretch. I have lots of budlets but many are above the light and many more are just below the canopy and not getting enough light.
The lone plant on the left is a DoSiDos auto. I rigged up the clamp light (26w curly bulb) to slow the stretch on it since it was nearly in full darkness due to the two bigger plants. It seems to have worked and I'll likely top and train that one since I can reach it.
My light is now firmly at the top of the tent (with enough space for some air flow over the top). I already removed the casters on the boxes for about 2" more space. These big ones are 50 days old and should be well into flower mode but they were so busy growing they're late...and tall...so I plug away. And do it My waaaay.
Comment