2nd Grow Z-Kittles, Converted My Closet

@beardless I jumped over to your thread you mentioned, I find it interesting you like the photoperiod plants, I do see the cloning aspect as being “sexy and appealing” but you said your space is limited, and I thought those Photoperiod plants got large and unruly? Are you doing LST and cropping to the extreme on those or do the clones bud out quicker, just trying to get in your head as to why you shifted away from the autos or that turning point,… clones…mainly?

I want to get a good crop or initial cutting on the plant this time. Want to make it bush out and squat.

Interested to hear if you are a tent person or how your doing your grows in veg and flowering. Are you removing the plants for the pics you are taking or what? I used the box drying method on grow one I saw you do and it worked well. closed the box and had the filter Jury Rigged to pull out the smell. Worked out real good.

1 Like

What is this? White part at the lowest part of door under the bubble wrap mylar

@PharmerBob that is the rubber / metal door “skirt” I bought at Lowes. The door without the skirt gap / filler will prolly be around 1.25 inch with light flooding out under the door. This is where I think I will play with the gap by raising slightly off the floor to allow more house air to be pulled in with the AC Air I will be forcing in thru the closet wall from bedroom.

Initially I purchased to block the light from exiting the closet.

The elbow on the wall is ac in. The elbow with hose on floor shown in this last pic I dropped in 4" hole I cut in attic ceiling from attic and routed the 8ft hose to blow near the ladder where you climb up in attic, so that way I can do a whiff check with the old smeller every now and then.

3 Likes

Not necessarily. One positive attribute of photos is you have more control over their size than with autos. Strain selection is also important determinant of size. This holds true for both photos and autos. Size of photos are managed by limiting veg time and training. Once I have a viable seedling I start counting days. Somewhere around 9 or 10 weeks I will flip them to the 12/12 flower light schedule. I am learning and trying different training / pruning techniques. So far most of it has been pretty straight forward LST designed to keep the plant relatively short with a small footprint. I generally use the same LST techniques with autos. Time may be more compressed because they are on their own time schedule.

They can if that is what you want them to do. If you take a cutting from the mother at 8 weeks and the mother is ready to flower, the cutting will also be ready to flower once it establishes adequate roots. This might take a couple of weeks. You can then get the clones to flower at this point. Of course they will be very small. The clones in the SOG were cut within a week +_ of 10/1 and flipped to flower 12/18. To keep them small I kept them in small pots with a low light level.
I currently have three grow spaces going.
The main space is a 3x3x7’ tent. I try to run 4 photos or autos in the tent. Sometimes 3 if I have seed germination problems.
The second space is in an unused bathroom. I would usually grow a single auto in this space. It was easy, didn’t have to worry about light contamination etc. But changed it up because I had a bunch of clones and figured SOG is a good way to use them.


The third area is for seedlings and clone propagation. This is a recent expansion.
Tray of 17 clones on 11/25

Top with LST should accomplish this. I have not grown this strain and not familiar with its genetics but see that it is very popular. Maybe search and to see what other growers are doing with it.
If I missed something or you want more info - reach out

3 Likes

@Beardless I see the net in your one photo is approx 15 inches above the dirt?

Is there a certain height above dirt line on pot that you like to set the net height?

I have some left over sprinkler pipe and I am going to make me a removeable scope up, adjustable height scrog net.

Also…what is the concept behind SOG. Is this a clone thing only?

I like that deal you are doing with the photo and clones. I saw that @Hellraiser last year was actually freezing some clone cuttings.

For me I am going to try to keep the closet active 8 months of the year.

To finish this grow around end of may, I think I want to drop a few more seeds to have, and I am going to try to put 2 fabric bags in this 23 x 23 space with LST Hard tie down.

I think I need to germinate again Mid FEB. I can use my SF 1000 board outside the closet in veg. I am going to veg that 2nd grow in the room without a grow set up.

I went back and looked at my order. Oh and the mail man delivered to my neighbor…he finally came by and said hey i got one of your Packages… I was like thank you, and I am glad he did not open by mistake…

Possible Wedding Cake or Zkittles. The leaves do look different so maybe this is a 1/1 of each.

Next time I have to drop the seeds in a labeled water container. LOL I am a total Stoned Dumb Ass!

Seeds dropped in water 2 Jan 21. Went to dirt and Rockwool Fail on 4 Jan. All were cracked with tails. At that point I hit them with the SF 1000 led…I have the HLG 135 v2 that will be assembled and exchanged to the closet today.

I should keep the 135 v2 light at 18 inches and 80%% for the veg? When do I crank it to 100% when the flowers are forming? With Zkittles when should it go to flower? 8 weeks?

today, as I hit this with a small bit of Cal Mag and 1/2 strength Flora Trio.

Last grow I read where a guy applied chemicals or fertilizer on each watering at a diluted strength. Will I burn the color of the leaves if I do this. I want to be aggressive this time. Last time it was under PH around 6 for my previous dirt grow and way under fed. The happy Frog Dirt I started with along with the Distilled them R/O water prolly helped the Rookie-ness of the grow.

1 Like

Usually somewhere around 12" or so. I use the net to provide support so I set it as high as possible. The other thing for me is the higher I set it the easier it is to water and maintain the plants. Others use a net as a training device and will weave or tie the growth points in the net. A second net, set above the first, will often be used in the case.
I used clones for the SOG because I had them. And, once I changed the lighting to 12/12 they would be ready to flower and be a quick grow. You can use seeds. They need to veg long enough to flower but you save time by flipping earlier. You can check out @Rap Sea of Green in cups
This SOG was from seed and motivated me to give the method a try.

1 Like

@beardless and @RAP

Appreciate the Link to Rap’s SOG. He looks like he got some skin in the Game. 1970s Grows…OK I am listening…LOL/

I am going to read that whole darn string of info. I am sure that I may find some Gold or Grow some Educating my Dumb Ass

If you were going to do a SOG or Clone what would be a Strain that would be a High Yield with some Blast as Far as THC goes.

I think I need to purchase a Few seeds for these photo Period plants so I can try one of these Grows.

I will ask or …so if the photos of the 16 plants or so…what did those yield? Dry Weight? Did you use the tent or are you making a Light box to throw over your PVC Contraption you built?

I am wondering if you had a larger Cardboard box that you lined with refletix (Silver stuff I got for my Closet Conversion at Lowes) for your 12/12 light on off cycle? Am I crazy…yes but how are you managing the 12/12 total darkness and does a slight blast of light really Throw things off for the plants in that Forced Budding Cycle?

Question: Can I keep watering with the CAL Mag. Flora Trio each and every time if Diluted to 1/2 Label strength per gallon?

I know I read somewhere that the seed has some nutrients provided by Mother nature and the Happy frog (Dirt) has some plant friendly stuff in it also. Having said all that I want to Red Line the Tac and Go Aggressive this time. I do not want to be stupid either and Burn up the plants.

Any Advice?

Not freezing, that would kill them. But I can keep them in the fridge (set to 37F) for a few weeks if I need to delay the cloning process.

2 Likes

@hellraiser sorry about the misquote. Does make sense though. I am still in Rookie status.

I will take a few pics of the Light in the space tomorrow when I put the HLG 135 v2 into action.

1 Like

@beardless, @hellraiser

Reaching out and hopefully one of you can help me out. I have the new board installed. I went back and reviewed my latest ILGM order. Turns out. I threw 4 seeds, (Autos) 2- zkittle & 2- Wedding cake into a glass of water on 2 Jan. All 4 cracked and tailed out. I put 2 in Rockwool and 2 in dirt Jiffy pods you swell up with water at 48 hrs x4 once tails cracked.

The dirt did fine and as you can see look like they are off to a good start. The Rockwool grew tails out of the rockwool but never sprouted leaves (Can you plant seeds upside down)? 12 days into the start up (Today) I threw the rockwool in dirt, covered them up final attempt would be more apt…There they are in the back covered rockwool. I have the heating pad on. Is there any chance this will sprout if I keep them wet? I am just looking for opinions or real life experience on germination.

The other Thing I need to ask is currently I am at 21 inches off the green top of the plant at 133 watt with this HLG 135 v2 board.

Do I need to dial this back to 80% while the plant is young or what is the best strategy. I am inclined to go full blast, but Not really sure what the best approach at this stage of the growth would be.

Tips would be appreciated. How long should I keep these 2 plants in the Red 16 oz solo cups also.

2 Likes

If it’s been 12 days, chances are not good, sounds like they’re heads got stuck in the rockwool or got turned around, would explain pushing out some root but never seeing the sprouts coming out the top.

Way too much light for seedlings, I’d take it down to 50 watts and work up from there as needed.

3 Likes

@Hellraiser

Don’t want to keep Nickle and Diming you to death but at what point of the grow do I raise the wattage to full strength of the boards capability?

Should the plant be a certain age, height or what is the trigger point?

For the seedlings 21 inches at 50 watts.

Each and everytime I have watered I am doing it with 7.0 PH, 1/2 strength CAL Mag and 1/2 Strength on the Flora Trio. Should I mix a plain watering in and how often would you suggest?

I have just been slightly keeping the Happy Frog wet with a syringe that I use for measuring nutrients when I mix the Gal jug/

Won’t need full power (135 watts or more) til you hit flowering. 100 watts will be about the most you need in veg in a 2x2 space.

I’d watch the sprouts for now, if the stems seem to be stretching after a couple days, than kick up the light another 10 watts. You could probably kick it up by 10 watts a week til you hit 100 watts where I’d leave it til you start flowering, then increase 10 watts a week til about 140 watts which should be great for flowering, depending on distance from light at that point.

I’d take that down to 6.5 which is perfect for Happy Frog.

A feed, water, feed, watering plan works well for most. Happy Frog does have some nutes in it so don’t feed too much for first few weeks til it’s nutes are depleted.

That is not my way. I water fully and let dry and repeat as needed - from solo cup to harvest (in potting soil). I don’t do the little bit of water daily thing or advise anyone to do so, easy to overdo and then you got over watering, also easy to under-do and not provide enough water for fast root growth.

1 Like

@hellraiser

Thank you Brother, that clears up some of the fog.

A couple follow ups on the watering strategy. Do you water to the point of bag run off, cup run off or water until “run off” or until you see water escaping through the bag each time?

  • I will be eventually using the 5 gallon fabric bags and when I load them up with FF Happy Frog dirt. When should I transplant from 16 solo cup and should I go down to the 3 gallon bags for future grows?

I have a event soon that I will have to leave these small plants unattended for around 80 hrs.

Should I just heavy water in the solo cup and set then plant by the window for those days out of the closet or do you think a full watering prior in the solo cup will allow the plant to be ok? I am wondering if the 72F might be better on the plant seeing how there will be no watering for 80 hrs.

Hate to come home to dry crunchy plant that has no THC in it.

It is staying around 79F with door shut to closet. Humidity is always low here thank goodness for that…

2 Likes

I always water to runoff, in solo cups and larger pots/bags as well. Just gotta let it dry, however long it takes until watering again.

If you’re going from solo cup to 5 gal, leave in solo cup for a bit longer than usual, the more roots you have and the bigger the plant, the easier transition to the 5 gal and can water fully to runoff once transplanted in the 5 gal, and keep in mind it may be 10 days or so before needing to water the 5 gal again, let the pot get dry and light before watering again.

I would just do a full watering on the solo cup and leave in the closet, should easily hold it for a few days/80 hours and turn your light down a bit more (to like 35 watts) to get a little cooler temps and less water usage, think that would be better than the window sill which would probably cause more stretch.

2 Likes

Let your plants in solo cups get a bit larger than this before transplanting, this was a few days before I transplanted these plants to 5 gal fabric bags.

3 Likes

@Hellraiser,

I will try that flooding watering approach this time. I am going to get a jug of water at 6.5 and do a full watering today, and Feed- Water- Feed cycle as you spoke of earlier in the thread.

The Kunan Kill A Watt equivalent you shared a low cost tip with me was a nice addition and takes the guess work out of but… Found out I needed to cycle thru the menu to loop back for a reading change. Things are starting off well with this one. Hopefully we can keep the train on the track and Go Gonzo at the finish line. I like the Covert ness of having the operation in the closet… I don’t have people over, but in that rare case I would need to pack up (and it did happen grow 1) was too much of a hassle.

I need to finish up this Grow period at the end May 2021.

I think I am going to drop a and crack tails on some seed 1 FEB, and try and get one more to finish up +30 on this…Yea I am going to be a fool and keep 2 each 5 Gallon Pots in here and put this things in Bondage.

Last Grow with the SF 1000 underperforming light It took me 124 days before I cut it down. 1 Feb to 24 May 2020.

I am hoping with the better light in the flowing cycle the white Hairs on the buds will turn Orange and Frost up a bit faster. I was happy with the first attempt just getting some buds was a rewarding experience. I didn’t get any real frosting up on grow 1, orange hairs, yep…

The 5 Gallon Fabric Bags are right at 12" tall when filled. I purchased 8 each 4 way PVC connectors and have cut the pipes to have the net at +6" (18") first net Row and +6, or 24" high for the 2nd row of net.

I see that @beardless has a manifold trick and I want to LST these to mimic what he was doing. Last time I just let the plant grow and that was a mistake by getting too tall. With the guy lines holding the light it takes away room at the top of the tent / closet. I am at 76" to the bottom of the board holding the fan at the the very top of the closet. That was the only board I did not remove when converting.

Right now with the temps holding steady I am not installing the Room AC portable version. I am going to use that in a different / possibly shared application if I need it during the Grows.

Right now I want to do a 4 month on 4 month off 4 month on cycle to fill in the year. The Autos should go A-Z in that time frame judging by Grow 1 only.

I am a hack when it comes to manifold and mainlining techniques. If you want to see what it looks like from a master at it, check out Arrow’s labour of love
Here is as good a written tutorial as you will find Nebula's Easy Manifold (Cannabis "Main-Lining" Tutorial) | Grow Weed Easy

2 Likes

This is some of @MeEasy handy work - great example of eight cola manifold

5 Likes

@beardless, @MeEasy,

I have to ask. When do you use the scrog nets, never with this technique? If you are doing this manifold isn’t this approach better than netting or is it done in conjunction with Manifold?

I have cut the pipe for dual nets (SCROG). One at 18" and the second net at 24" from floor. I measured the 5 Gal Fabric bags (12” high) as shown in your pic (I think I am looking at 5 Gal) and based that off a previous conversation.

I can’t really think of a need to lift the plant out of the closet (in my case) other than to cut it down but if I am entwined in a dual net it could be a dicey proposition getting things out. I am hoping to not have to move things around if I use the net technique. Everything is wide open at this point.

I again threw seeds into water mixing the strains (Rookie Mistake Again), I am guessing one is a zkittle and the other is a wedding cake.

These plants, they are both Fem-Auto (Question= Are they really just Pre-determined life span? is that more or less correct?)

Follow up Question. If that is true in the Veg state why would I not want to Hit them with Max Light? Light = Growth, or is that not correct?

I bought a bigger board, which was the HGL 135 v2 will surely kick dirt in the face of the Spider Farmer I was using on Grow 1, with a myriad of rookie mistakes, but as a no Thumb, clueless grow hack I have to ask why buy a bigger board? If I run it at 100 watts wont the result be the same as the SF 1000 which was a 100 watt, or are the lights from the diodes superior.

I see some negative comments about the autos and I can see the appeal of cloning and the other possibilities with photos. I am basically in a 23x23x76 closet so I know the space is small, but who knows, later after a couple more auto grows I may give it a whirl?

Not trying t0 be a smart ass on those questions above. I do see when I have to leave these autos unattended for 80 hrs…then for the potential dry out and wilt in the 16 oz solo may be a no go, so I am going to definitely turn the watts way down to keep things from drying out.


I am tempted to transplant now to fabric bags. Here is a just taken photo. I gave them a full drink of pure Distilled dialed into 6.5 on the PH @Hellraiser . Next time when they need a drink I am going with Cal Mag and the Flora Trio at 1/2 Strength.

1 Like