After many long hooours of research. I have realized that I’ve made every typical beginner mistake in the book:
Over watering (seedlings)
Bad Coco Coir (did not rinse it)
Low humidity (needed a humidifier)
Absolutely HORRIBLE VPD control (3 kpa at one point lol)
Lights too intense
Lights not intense enough
Lights too high
Lights not close enough
Over feeding nutes (LOL feedling seedlings)
Purchased bad bad soil
Feeding hydro nutes into soil
Did not supplement CalMag in RO water
Transplanting too soon.
Planting direct into 5gal pot (subjective)
AND ABOVE ALL… BUYING WAY TOO MUCH SHIT
All in all… I consider this the cost of “Cannabis Tuition”
Fast forward to muh plants… after killing 8 (very expensive) seedlings I’ve finally got 2 candidates for success. “A” is a 12 day old OG Kush. “B” is a 1 day old Runtz. Honestly amazed that “A” did made it this far. “A” is most likely stunted and “B” will be the first plant grown in a half decent (but certainly NOT perfect) environment.
What I have nooooticed is that the growers who do have the “speedfreak” plants have their shit wired up TIGHT. I DON’T WANT A HALF DECENT ENVIRONMENT. I want the perfect environment
I would like to make a poost to ask you speed freaking demons… What is your secret sauce? There are a million ways to do it right and I hope to document at least some if you all would be willing to share.
So for all those folks who can completely veg a plant (photo period!) in 6 weeks or less and complete harvest under 3 months, please share with us your secret sauce.
Please use the format below.
TIME (seed to harvest)
STRAIN (because a lot depends on genetics)
MEDIUM
WATER SCHEDULE AND PH
NUTES
LIGHTS
RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND VPD
OPTIMAL TEMPERATURE
ANYTHING ELSE YOU THINK IS RELEVANT
(Transplant schedule, pot size, microbes, etc.)
(basically the ILGM checklist lol but for people who are kicking ass not the ones who are having issues)
TIME (seed to harvest): Depends on how long a plant vegges (both photo and auto.) You can control a photo, but an auto can vary wildly between 2 and 12 weeks.
STRAIN (because a lot depends on genetics): I don’t know that strain has much to do with growth. Every plant we grow has differing genetics. The differences between strains and is pretty much limited to terpine profiles and perhaps coloration.
MEDIUM: Fox Farm soils.
WATER SCHEDULE AND PH: Maintain as close to 6.5 if in soil. Water every time the soil dries out.
NUTES: Jack’s 321
LIGHTS: 3 HLG 135 panels per plant.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND VPD: I pay no attention to VPD and maintain humidity near 60% in veg and 40% in flowering.
OPTIMAL TEMPERATURE: Anywhere between 68 and 85. My grows run cool. The last plant I grew had 63F overnight temps and low 70s during the day.
@MidwestGuy thank you for that first post!! Do you have any advice on the seedling stage? one of my goals is to start real veg as soon as possible and hang out there for a bit before flower
I’m using Autopots with coco and Jack’s. Photoperiod is my wheelhouse.
The only advice I can give is: usually less is more with nutes. Have adequate lighting. Maintain a clean grow space.
Seedlings require nothing but water until the cotyledons yellow. A dome over them will help as the sprout acquires it’s moisture out of the air and not roots (which haven’t formed yet).
Seedlings are happiest when the RH is as close to 100% as you can get. After 10 days to 2 weeks the dome is no longer necessary. Water sparingly but daily in coco and don’t water to runoff until the plants’ canopies are the size of the fabric pot.
TIME (seed to harvest)
I don’t really keep track so I’ll go with when it pops 3ish weeks in veg tent then off to flower tent until pistols are mostly orange and some tricomes are amber
STRAIN (because a lot depends on genetics)
Currently playing with mango smile auto, blue haze, purple haze, super silver haze, lambs bread, rainbow kush, sirius black, and grapefruit.
MEDIUM
Soil with coco and perlite mixed in
WATER SCHEDULE AND PH
When it says it wants it ph dependant on previous Runoff numbers shooting for 6.5 out
NUTES
Jacks 321
LIGHTS
HLG 600
RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND VPD
60ish in veg 50ish in flower
OPTIMAL TEMPERATURE
60-75
ANYTHING ELSE YOU THINK IS RELEVANT
(Transplant schedule, pot size, microbes, etc.)
Im on the do less farming approach side. Lst, some topping and just let it grow. Don’t fuss over it. Learn your plants and youd be amazed at what they can live through.
August 28 popped head above soil.
October 9 switched to 12/12 (6 week seedling and veg time)
October 30 (tomorrow) will be three weeks since 12/12 switch. Plant is waist high and fills 3x3 wall to wall with no special grooming other then removing 8 smaller bottom branches to clone.
On track for 14-15 weeks from heads up to harvest. Not all plants do this well, it has a lot to do with the genetics as you said.
TIME- depends on the strain but my autos are finished within a couple months
STRAIN- i change it up alot ive grown GDP, amnesia haze, walter white, blueberry kush, northern lights and a few more you get the idea lol
MEDIUM- soil Promix HD organic
WATER SCHEDULE AND PH- when seedlings i dome them and keep them moist by misting inside the dome daily, as they grow i water when shes light weight then give her a good soaking thoroughly (if you dont drench the soil evenly you can end up with cruddy roots )
NUTES- fox farms trio and cal mag 1/2 of their feeding schedule after about 3-4 weeks promix soil does a good job with feeding so i usually dont have to supplement until she begins flowering and has grown 6 or 7 nodes (sometimes autos flower at 2 weeks so thats not always a good indicator of when to give nutes depending on your medium)
LIGHTS- PTLX 300 watt industrial LED (shes a bad biotch lol)
RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND VPD- i live in a very dry climate so getting 60% in my grow room was challenging until my husband made the entire spare bedroom a green house (perks of being married to an electrician he makes awesome lights lol) usually around 45% during flower
OPTIMAL TEMPERATURE i grow cooler 60- 65 degrees it really brings out the colors when you grow in a lower temp i run a small stand alone ac to combat lights etc
Its my pleasure @eisenhorn i have a thread on here somewhere that i just started on my trials and tribulations. I use it as a way to keep track with what works and doesn’t. Im not sure how you would find it. its not big yet i just finished a grow and didn’t plan ahead so i only have a bunch of stuff germinating at the moment but once it gets going it should be a good tool on what to teach everyone not to do .
.