Hello all, it’s been MONTHS since I’ve been here! I didn’t mean to disappear (and sorry to have missed the Fantasy League), let’s just say I got distracted by a girl . . . ahem
I had 3 great White Widow Auto harvests, and I’m about 4-5 weeks from harvest on my first Gold Leaf. I’ve got it isolated in a trash can grower I made. I’ve got a TaoTronics 24W LED, two 14W 2700K CFLs and two 23W 2700K CFLs attached to the lid. I had to add the CFLs as supplemental because the angle on the TaoTronics is only 30 degrees, so it wasn’t hitting the outer edges. They have a new 36W bulb with a 60 degree spread though, so I’m gonna pick up one of those AND a 12W (they make all 3). The plan is to have 3 Autos going at a time, one month apart, and as they grow, move them up from the 12 to the 24 to the 36 to finish!
And I just flipped my SOG/SCROG into flower last week. It’s a single Gold Leaf in the middle with 7 clones from 6 weeks in that I grew another 4 (including rooting time) before hitting the bloom cycle. Only one clone didn’t make it, and I think it was poor choice of medium. I used peat moss and perlite, and I think it burned it up, too acidic. Next time I’ll just do clones like seeds, peat pellets and then straight into the pot after sprout (or rooting, for clones).
Finally, I started 3 Maui Wowie seeds I got from a friend (I traded my last 3 WWA seeds). I made this little incubator from an old walker. I just put some white cardboard on the sides and have one of those Mylar car window reflectors draped over the top for the back and easy access flip up front. The light is just a 4-socket outlet with four 13W 6500K CFLs (56W total) with a disposable aluminum baking pan for the hood.
If you going for a scrog your screen is set to low from the photo , the idea of scrogging is to allow the branches to lay side ways so the small side shoots can grow to the same height of the top cola . But you train the plant doing the last week of vegging into the switch as it stretches to get your scrog filled out , so you need space to pull back branches to allow them to Lat under the scrog and grow threw it as the smaller shoots stretch as well .
Thanks, I really didn’t know what I was doing or research it. I actually didn’t even really know what I was going for, it was my first experiment with clones.
So I bent the top 6 branches plus the top over and cut 8 clones off the lower part of the plant at 6 weeks. Then I just bent the main plant over as much as I could to match the height of the clones so I could go ahead and start bloom. I wanted to let it veg another couple weeks, but I’m on a time constraint, and have to be packed up by the end of February.
So it’s more like just kind of a full tent more than a SCROG, huh?! Now that I have an isolated grow tank for a mother plant though, when I set up my new grow, I can just take cuttings from my mother, grow them up for 3-4 weeks in the incubator, then set them in the main tent in a 12/12. That should keep a continuous harvest going!
And I actually trimmed off all the branches below the top cola on each branch early, so I really didn’t know what I was doing!
Very cool, THANKS!! Yeah, I kinda winged it. Next grow I’m gonna do it right, and that starts with getting a good screen like that!
I’m still a newbie, so technically, this is still kind of my first grow, I just happen to have had 3 autos that have already been harvested. This is my first 12/12 with a tent.
But thanks to this forum, I’ve learned (and succeeded at) training, topping, cloning, and proper nutrient mixes, so when I set up my tent for the next grow, I’ll be in REALLY good shape for a killer SCROG! It’s fascinating to me how you can take a single seed and grow it into such a huge plant!!
I’m kind of nervous @Brian091180 cause this new setup system has a drain tube , but I won’t be able to use gravity to my advantage to drain out old water or nutrient mix for reservoir change , and I don’t have much vertical room to extend lights up higher , so it’s really against my efforts , but I’ll try to manage it by all means , but I’m now trying to re-invent the system on a small size from a 5 gallon to more less a 3 gallon , but I have to pull 12 hours this saturday but hopefully I can re-engineer the setup to fit more appropriately in my lil tent for now , unless I’ll be upgrading to a more suitable tent size like 40x40x60 maybe I think would work better for this bigger rig for plants . But my last harvest I told I yielded a massive 36 ounces in a scrog on a super long veg for about 4 1/2 months and my colas was about 9 inches tall of some big fat massive buds , and than I quit growing due to me having a major surgery on my neck , but I’m thinking I’ll have to get a bigger tent , are just corner off a big enough section squared so I can grow .
Any thoughts on trichromes? Are these looking milky? I don’t see any amber yet, this is Day 58 from the 36-hour blackout. When counting flowering time, is that the day you count from, the day you blackout and/or switch to 12/12? Or do you wait a week or so until it shows signs of flower and THEN begin counting?
I’m pretty excited about this harvest! This is my first “real” harvest. I began this crazy journey back in June, and have already enjoyed 4 KILLER White Widow autos, but this Gold Leaf grow (started at the same time!) has been extremely educational in LST, SCROG, clones, etc.
The tent is exactly 4 weeks behind this “Early Bird” plant I pulled out and flowered early in a trash can with a 24W LED and some supplemental CFL. I think I’m gonna let it go a little long, I want to see what the “couch lock” on the Gold Leaf feels like. This first plant should give me a good taste, then I can adjust the tent accordingly.
My official verdict on the trash can grow: Kick ASS!!
Super cheap, super easy, good results! The only drawback is, not really effective with a filter, so definitely not an apartment or dorm room grow. As long as you keep the plants trained and low. The only real issue I had was, about 3 weeks before harvest, I started noticing the beginnings of light burn from the 24W LED, so I subbed it out with a 42W CFL and the rest of the grow went off without a hitch.
I think this can is going to become my official mother chamber. I’ll keep a nice momma on there 18/6 full time and every couple weeks, chop off a few cuttings to clone in the main 12/12 flower tent.
Big lesson I learned on this one though, you can’t keep a clone forever! The momma for my TOG is already over 5 months old, and while the 7 clones around her are all lush and green, the momma is barely hanging on, most of the leaves are shriveling up (buds okay so far) with 4 whole weeks to go til harvest! I’m sure a better grower wouldn’t have that problem!
I’m wrapping up this grow location, I should have enough with the tent harvest to last me through July. Hopefully by then, I’ll be moved and setting up a new grow with some of the new flavors like Blue Dream, Green Crack, Crystal, Trainwreck, and did I see a new Chronic Widow?!!!
I saw someone suggest it somewhere else, SAMPLER PACK WITH THE NEW STRAINS, PRETTY PLEASE!!!
