COCO COIR Grow Journal Attempting Crowded Sea of Green

[Bootsy]

Hi rfolks. I hve just set up my first attempt at a sea of green in my 3 by 3 by 6 ft tent. The reson is two-fold, as I have lots of product on hand and looking to increase variety, and i am really curious how it will work out. I have started 16 clones and just yesterday planted them in the 1 gallon pots. See the photo for set up. they are sitting in a washer tray, 2.5 inches deep, sitting on 4 milk crates to hopefully allow for syphon draining ( although i have a little diaphram pump if needed). I intend to let them grow to around 10 inches andswitch to flowering. They are planted in a mix of 20%nhome mixed soil, 30% perlite and the rest coco. I have two LED light, one a 600 W BESTVA Elite 600W and a 300 W Mars Hydro Reflector Series. I plan on using the Remo 7 part series nutrients that I picked up at a yard sale thissummer for a deal. I have 3 Gellatto, 2 Afghan Hasshplant 1 Zkittles Glue from one friend, 2 Kush Kush and 2 White Rhino from my summer grow, 3 blackwater from a mother plant another friend kept for me, and 3 Northern Lights from a seed I started awhile ago. I fully expect to be looking for advice later. if anybody wants to comment or offer anything in particular to look, for feel free. there already seems to be new growth so i will likely feed tomorrow for the first time. This should be fun. It is now a hobby as opposed to supply. Liking the rules here in Canada. I plan to water with a wand, with the occasional bottome watering when i am rushed only. I dont have a lot of height so i may later have to remove the milk crates/ i am hoping for each of these to produce one or more likely 2 or 3 colas each

 

[ChadWestport]

I like it! I prefer to have a variety as well, it all stays within these walls, so I don't need a bunch of only one thing.

Hand watering will be a challenge for the plants in the back, but if you get the 2 gallon yard / bug sprayer from Home Depot ($15) it has a two foot watering wand that makes reaching the back ones a breeze.

Be prepared to defoliate and defoliate. Canopy will get pretty thick but removing older fan leaves will help. Related to that would be airflow, you've got to get movement through that dense of a set-up, completely possible though. If you are vegging to 10" (1-2 weeks) you will likely get a few colas each plant and they likely will finish around 24-36".

Have fun, I can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[Bootsy]

Hmmm. if they go much more than 24 inches i may have height problems in my little tent, since wilth this tight a setup there will be no room to go horizontal. will watch that close and maybe get started just a little before that. wont be able to do training, and i realize i will have to be ruthless in trimming. I stayed with primarily indicas, in the hope that they dont grow too far.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Good luck to ya Bootsy

 

[Bootsy]

hi. all but one have now growna couple of new leaves and look good. Already quite a difference in heights, even between clones from same plant. i did transplant them pretty small. Photos are from tonight. for posterity i broke the sixteen up into quadrants. One of the gelato i the only one not looking good. it was one that didnt have root showing whenput in coco. Remo nutrients now used three days. almosr full strength. I have not checked water ph, but think i will from now on - why not since it's easy. i think i will switch to 12-12 on Monday. Figuring one to three colas per pot, since i can get the pot about an inch apart. I have my watering wand still from last grow, that works great. must slop the under pan a bit more, but will do that when i take out the milk crates. photos wont upload tonight so only one included. I just bottled the last of my three outdoor plants. boy, if you really take the time trimming leaves, the quality is outstanding.

 

[ChadWestport]

Thanks for the update, this will be fun to see fill in.

 

[PLreef]

16 plants in a 3x3! Id be curious to see how this works out for you. I have a hard time with 4 autos in a 3x3.

 

[Bootsy]

more up to date photos . planning on switching light timing tomorrow. all look pretty good to me except one gelatto, but i think with time it may get going. water sure goes through this loose coco mix. i might do a bottom watering to make sure the whole pots are moistened, but only if i get bored. still having some photo issues, but closerphotos of half of them.

 

[Bootsy]

Here we go already. I am now looking for advice or suggestions. I had decided that I would go for three colas at the most for each plant because of horizontal space limits - but could be talked into going to more or less. 8 inch size pots and an inch between. I hadnt thought previously as to what trimming to do, but looking at them now, many branches started - so action required some time soon. see attached for three sample plants. they have just really started picking up rapid growth. should i pick branches lower down and trim higher ones now so not wasting growth? I assume not the very lowest ones right at dirt level. I will check in later, but figure i should likely do a big trim of the branches now before they start flowering. I think as of now, i will selectively prune, with the goal that each will be the same height and will have at least four viable branches for colas. i will pick what look like the mot robust ones that are started already. If I do this, I will likely wait a few day more till going to flowering. Opinions are always welcome. How much pruning, and which branches to leave for colas??? I intended to leave all the leaves until there are more new ones. I am correcting pot size - 6.5 inches each side, i gallon

 

[Bootsy]

So now the fun starts. I topped them all at the main stem and only left leaves and around 4 branches per plant if there were any. Some have no branches yet, and i thought about leaving them, but each of those were taller and i am aiming to keep em as similar as possible - so i cut em. today switched timer to 12.5 on 11.5 off. Now we will see how they fill out. Hoping for a fun time, and now thinking how to raise the shorter ones as time goes on since there is a significant difference in how some are growing. Changing nutrient mix to that for flowering according to the Remo recipe. I have been watering each day now, even though it isnt drying out, having read that using coco you dont want to have it dry out - and in these 1 gallon pots the roots dont have far to go anyway. the media mix is very loose so it doesnt take much to get runoff.

 

[Bootsy]

Updated photos and Process. The first photo is from just after first trimming, and second photo is from this morning, a day after last major clipping. I again topped most of them to get rid of leaves above the three or four branches i expect to become colas, as well as any excess branches. a couple of the girls ended up being left as is - and those only have little buds on the side of the main stem that i topped. I am at 80% for the Remo nutrient menu, and have the 300 W light at 18 and the 600W at 20 inches. I guess i"m not really doing ea of green where it is aid you don't do training. I am going to see if i can get a or 4 colas spaced to have a little separation. I will have to keep them spaced fairly much so they don't reach more than the outside edge of the pots. You can see the difference in their growth in the last photo, with the bright spots of growth. It may not look like much growth, but they are going nuts, and now that I am done trimming we should see em filling in big time (I hope). I intend to move em around as i see stuff - for example, the gelattos seem to be more sensitive to light, so am moving them to less light areas, whereas the Northerm Lights and Hash Plant are thriving under the 600 W. The 300W has 5 W LEDs, while the 600W has 10 W (diodes?). That adds up to more light per area to me. Hope I'm not overloading with photos, but this helps me keep track. I don't know I I mentioned that this will be the first grow I haven't had an HID involved in flowering. Curious about how tight buds will be. Oh yeah, for the rtecord, they are 4 to 6 inches high now. shorter than intended, but it felt right:embarassed:

 

[Bootsy]

Next update photo of the team. All are growing, but very different patterns as expected. I am suspicious that the Balckwater isn't actually correct becuase of the phenotype with small leaves, but wil see. 12 have now been trimmed to 3 colas with a couple at 4 in hopes i may have room. The yoiungest clones show a difference in that they havent branchedas much as the others after topping. I assume that is the plant age. Gelato, zkittles glue and hash plant all came from branches off younplants prior to flowering. Northern lights was a small plant from seed that clippings were taken at around 3 weeks. others were from outdoor grows this summer. I have what I now realize are fungus gnats and when I looked, the top of me media has some green growing so I fucked up in not having fans going. lot of air blowing now, and a pest strip is catching some. I will likely try diatomaceous earth since i have some from my aquarioum filter. Sorry fopr being wordy. the garden is the topic. see photo, which is showing growth even with the defoliation so far. No sign of pistils yet after 9 days from light change.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Can you get those yellow fly strips to hang Bootsy those sticky ones ? i get soil gnats they die off pretty quick. Your plants look real good so far. Boy you will soon get your hands full, are they gonna stay in the 1 gal. when you gonna flip?

 

[Bootsy]

hey. They are staying in the 1 gallon pots. A fun experiment. I switched the light timing over a week ago. only see a few pistils on several plants today. I have regular fly strips in there catching the gnats, and really dont see em otherwise. However, are the yellow ones readily available? looking down today - I agree that it may be a challenge.

 

[Bootsy]

I now see a in my lighting. first time i have used these two led's alone. both are covering about 2 by 2. plants are growing fine, but the coverage isn't quite enough for my 3 by 3 tent when i drop them down to 18 inches. the ones at front and back are reaching in and are just in the pattern. i have been moving them daily to make best use of the light for the ones i really want, but now thinking i have future grows coming so might as well adjust now? options i see are 1. add my old 300 w LED to one periphery and space the others so to maximize the good ones so the old one becomes a supplement; 2. buy one or two new lights so i can get full coverage; 3. leave it as it is and take what i can get , hoping for Santa to bring a new one. I am leaning towards adding the old one since it' main issue was that it had a how spot down the middle which i can maybe use by using at the end. now that weather is cooling, the basement is already cool enough that the heater must work some in the day even with both lights on so I likely wouldnt be wasting much energy.
What would be great would be a linear light with coverage of 1 by 3 with 10W diodes. I dont want to spend too much money till I am convinced that growing without the HID's will produce bud i want. HPS always added during flowering each time before - with the annoying heat problem. Thanks for reading, if you got this far. I get relaxed and writing and keep going. product of this hobby.

 

[Bootsy]

i stuck the old 300w led at the back, with the stretchiest plant under it. the blackwater (very suspect not the right dtrain) in particular, and after a couple of days the blackwater looked pretty cool withg little buds starting. today look a little wilted, but that could be because the light got too close a they grew. raie dback up so the old one is at 15 inches, the mars hydro 300 w at 13 inches and the 600 w at 15 inches. they went three days without watering, so the soil i mixed must be holding the water - which led to the little flies due to overwatering. i watered from the bottom two days ago, which webnt fine, and will do it again tomorrow. the idea is that the surface is really getting to dry out si the bugs cant breed. the girls are pretty much trained now to the colas i want to develop and i will have to keep em pretty much straight up. all have buds starting except the gellato, whuchg arte bunching up ready to go. I am so curious how bigt they will get and the yield. so far the nutrient mix seems to be working fine. I really must figure out how to get photos better, but they will give an idea of where they sit now. note that i still can separate them by 1 inch each as i need to. Interesting heat issue is that at low fan flow, i still need a little bit of heat while the lights are on. Boy i hope the produce is nice. cheers till next time

 

[ChadWestport]

They are starting to get bigger, so exciting

 

[Bootsy]

Hi folks. an unfortunate work situation has me on the road daily for the next while and i havent been home when the lights are on since day before yesterday. and today will be the same unless i get vack early tonight. at leat i watered em (from bottom again). It's killing me. I read somewhere that green light can be used without messing up the plants. if anyone has experience with thi I would appreciate info, but wilol research soon myself. I so am looking forward to retirement! next time i see them, I expect to be defoliating big time.

 

[Bootsy]

Hi. i think if i was following this I would most like photos. attached are one perspective with the lights on,an overhead of the whole grow, and then one of each quadrant - which can be Identified by the tent corners. more later. tomorrow will be defoliation and spreading out and adding some frames or posts to do the little training required to keep them within themselves. Looking forwatd to my/our anniversary night out. My training has gone just as i hoped. I rely on the horseshoe i keep close.

 

[ChadWestport]

Getting thick in there!