Totally overwhelmed, where do i begin?

[Freeneasy123]

Ok first, full disclosure, i am 46 and until i startred trying to grow the only thing ive used the internet for is banking and maps so sorry in advance if i press the wrong button .

Next, ive attempted to grow 9 times now using various methods and only managed smokable buds once(the first time must have been beginners luck cause since then all ive grown is seeds and disappointment,)

I can veg stage ok but as soon as i start to flower everything goes horribly wrong.

Im not sure whats gowing wrong, or even what questions to ask.
I just want to grow my own buds and have enough to share with people in need.

I currently have some clones of girl scout cookies from weedseedsexpress .

I have some in 2 gallon cloth pots in coco, currently in a cupboard while i clean out the tent from the last disaster,

And 4 in a diy rdwc set up that i made, ( i bought a single VIVOSUN grow bucket to learn how it worked then tried to rework the concept to better fit my environment, potentially my first mistake, thinking of my needs before the plants)

here is a list of the equipment i have,

-5 x 5 x 6 tent
-2.5 x 6.5 x 6 tent
-4 seasons 640w full spectrum helios evo led
-4 seasons 220w full spectrum led

• 2 x 600w dimable ballast
• Ac infinity pro controller
• Ac infinity ai controller
• 8" mountain air ec fan
• 8" ac infinity fan
• 4" ac infinity fan
• Bluelab ph controller connect
• Ac infinity humidifier small and large
• ac infinity heater
• Grid connect heater
• My tubs for dwc hold 15 litres to bottom of net or 12 for a 1" air gap, joined by 1" hose,(pumps from tub up to res then gravity feed back to tubs)
• 2x 30l res
• 2 x 1200 lph air pump(and some battery powered ones for emergencies)
• 200lph water pumps
• bluelab ec/ph leap probe
• Clip fans
• A midea portable ac
  … unfortunately what i dont seem to have is a clue or an idea how to find it.

I just want to grow buds, dont care what they are grown in, or how, using what i already have.

I have been practicing LST and table topping, mainlining, and cloning pretty successfully (i think) but flowering eludes me

All the plants end up with seeds, and i have now become painfully familiar with bananas, but my last failure didn’t even have bananas, it had buds and pollen sacs in different spots.

So…here i am back at the beginning wondering where to start…?

[Freeneasy123]

Sry no photos yet i haven’t figured out how to send them

[SeaOhAreWhy]

One thing for sure, this grow is going to be either very successful or the best learning experience yet, because you started it here

By the looks of things, you have all the right gear to make this happen. And speaking of gear, you mentioned pollen sacks and nanners so be sure to clean every millimeter of that tent and all that gear before going back into it. Alcohol and H202 work well to subdue old pollen and nasty germs you dont want holding over from grow to grow. Always good practice to clean between grows, using cleaners that will become inert once dry.

Less is more as you are finding out. Your first grow was probably the most successful because you did the least. Training, topping, and mainlines are all great, but are very stressful and likely the leading cause of the hermies, nanners, etc. My advice on this grow is to stick with leaf tucking and moderate LST until you perfect your environment and growing style.

So, you have a few girls in coco. Straght coco or is there some perlite mixed in? Either way, unlike soil, coco requires constant fertigation and must not be allowed to dryback like we allow soil. With coco, keep your ph ranging from 5.5-6.5 and to prevent salt build up, you will want to flush often and water to 15-20% runoff with each watering event. Monitoring output ph and ppm levels is critical to success in coco and helps you understand when and what to feed.

The great thing about this place is that here in a moment or two, a few more Growmies are going to come along and add a ton more stuff to this, but the last thing I’ll add is how to post a pic. See that litttle box with a sun and mountian down in the right-hand corner next to the tv looking thing? Press that and your photo app will open allowing you to select photos to load. Select one or two (up to 5) and then hit done or load

Stay lifted

[Freeneasy123]

Thank you.I didnt know alcohol could neutralize the pollen, i have been cleaning between grows but only normal kitchen products.

I will try not mainlining this time, or maybe just do 1 to see if it has a different reaction to the other plants.

Yes its straight coco, it was free, which suited the budget.

I understand that theres no nutrient in coco; but can you tell me more about the dryback: how much moisture is not enough, if that makes sence?
And why is it bad?

[SeaOhAreWhy]

@Freeneasy123

alcohol could neutralize the pollen

Alcohol does not, H202 does. Sorry for any confusion there. I use isopropyl as a wipe down that dries quickly and leaves no residue for the bugs.
The root bio in coco is very different than in soil. Drying in coco can essentially kill off beneficial micro in the root zone that your plant needs to take up nutrients. Think of coco as similar to hydro.

[Growdoc]

Your coco will need daily feeding at minimum, once roots are established, coco usually gets multiple per day. Coco may not be the best for you to start in but you can learn the curve as you go, just have to be diligent about learning to grow with it. Biggest thing in coco is finding the feed EC and PH that keeps the media balanced. PH and EC meters are a must in soilless!

[josephjohn]

Hey mate first off massive respect for not giving up after 9 rounds that alone puts you ahead of 99% of people.The fact that every single run is throwing pollen screams light leaks and/or massive stress in flower Start simple: put everything in the 5x5, seal every pinhole with duct tape panda film run coco with jacks 321 keep pH 5.8-6.2, VPD 1.0-1.3 kPa lights at 60-70 cm on 40-50% power first week of flip, and do not touch them for 3 weeks except watering. Ditch the DIY RDWC for this run you will get buds then complicate later. You have got the gear just need the boring consistency now. You got this.

[Deadhead]

Start here and you’ll cut through most of the BS and misinformation:

Welcome to The Cannabis Encyclopedia: Your Ultimate Guide by Jorge Cervantes

[Freeneasy123]

Thank you for your help. Taped some plastic to overlap all the zips and joints last night , have to say im suprized at how much air,(and potentially light) was getting in.good call!

[Darran]

Just wanted to say Welcome @josephjohn . Good post.

[Darran]

I agree with @SeaOhAreWhy on almost everything. The only other advice that I would throw in kinda correlates with what @josephjohn and @Growdoc said. Keep it simple to start. Outside of the neccessary defoliation when they get too many leaves blocking the undergrowth, try a run or two where you don’t top, mainline, or stress the plants. Let them grow naturally and see what happens. If that’s successful, maybe try those techniques on 2 of the 4 plants and leave the other 2 alone. See the difference that it makes. Definitely congratulations are in order for your continuing interest in doing it. Outside of overwatering, thebiggest mistake that I see seems to be when people try to do too much too soon in their grow capabilities. These plants can really shine with a good hands off approach until you really start trying and developing the other techniques. Hope that helps and we are rooting for you.

[Freeneasy123]

Very grateful for your help, can you tell me what ratio of h202 you use for killing pollen and sanitizing a grow tent?- also do i just let it dry or should i wipe down with water after?

[SeaOhAreWhy]

I use 3% H2O2 solution and mix it 10:1 with water. No need to let it dry, you can wipe it down.

[Freeneasy123]

Finally figured out how to change the format my camera uses so pictures will upload.

• as advised- plastic overlap around all the zips to help eliminate light,also painted the inside if my metal duct bends black incase some light was reflected around ,
• i have stopped all trimming and defoliation , just a little bit of training with some rubber coated wire
• i purchased some perlite to mix with the coco for when i move them to larger pots, using canna coco at about half the recommended strength and just the base (part a and b) Goliath nutrient with athena cleanse in the dwc
• ph in both tents around 5.9
• the lights in both tents are still quite low, averaging 70- 80 on the par meter in the dwc tent and 80- 100 in the coco tent: (a little less than quarter of the available power)
  I have to admit that im not very confident when it comes to knowing if they want more light or less , so any advice about that would be greatly appreciated (thank you in advance)
• the temps are pretty steady between 21 and 24.5 during the day and not much cooler at night
• all the tubs got a scrub with the last water change, and at the moment they are listening to classical radio, so hopefully , with a little help, this time i will gets buds!

[VaHillbilly]

Hey friend I can recommend a light meter app that works pretty good. It’s called Photone and is pretty close for an app. Theres also a Ton of education on there about lighting I would also highly recommend spending some time reading on there, it is well worth the effort trust me. Good Luck holler if we can help any.

[VaHillbilly]

Just looking off hand its hard to tell but the plants I seen can handle 500 ppfd fine at this stage, in my opinion.