DaFozz's Skywalker OG Experiment

[anon95954822]

Before I start, I just have to give a big thanks to my BM friend KB for not only gifting me with a clone of Skywalker OG (timing is everything as it was destined for the green box), but also for rejuvenating my interest in growing cannabis. Not to mention the Recreational Laws changing in Canada.

Then I found OCCN again, and what had initially started out as just keeping a Mother plant and taking a few clones to have available to put outdoors (45N) come Springtime has slowly progressed into re-purposing an old wardrobe and an old cabinet and trying out an old school stealth cabinet grow. I think looking outside and seeing the 4+ feet of snow in the backyard and 8+ foot snowbanks at the end of the driveway played some part in that decision too.

I call it an experiment because that’s what it really is to me. I have been away from growing for quite awhile, but always consuming. Growing with LEDs is new to me(CFLs were the rage when I was last on OG 1.0), as well as the different nutes available now. It really can get confusing, and I think that is why I am taking a slow approach to it. I know I will make mistakes (already have), but I hope I learn from them.

I wouldn’t know where or who to begin with to thank for the knowledge posted on OG. I have been reading a lot, and learning from so many on OG. Anyone who says you can’t get addicted to marijuana is nuts… they have never visited OG 2.0… And I haven’t even visited the Gallery yet to look at all the weed porn…lol.

I will post pictures as the system allows me, as I am hoping that anyone wishing to offer advice or criticism will openly do so. I have thick skin lol… I just love watching plants grow and develop to their full potential.

Just a little spiel about where I am at now

Skywalker OG
Promix Premium Organic Moisture Mix
General Organics Bio Thrive Grow 4 3 3
General Organics CaMg+ 1 0 0
No Bloom Nutes Yet
Well Water (not phd)
Flowering Cabinet 20"X20"X60" (bottom of light is 47")
7-Way Splitter (15WX7=105W)
5 Way Splitter (15WX5=75W)
6 15W 2700K SIL, 6 15W 5000K
65W per square foot
Cloning/Vegging Chamber 30"WX16"DX22"H
2X23W 6500K CFL, 2X13W 6500K CFL
Looking to convert other part of wardrobe (drawers) into a dedicated Mother Room

Mom and her babies.

This is from the Mother of my clone. Goals in life…

Anyways, thanks for looking, I’ll do my best to update. Peace

p.s. The Bird in my avatar is meant for the GOC for waiting so long to pass a law that should have never been an issue in the first place… and maybe to my ex as well lol

[Kingaizen69]

Looking good so far and growing can be very addictive it is to me while I was gone for awhile that’s all I thought about til I just started back like a month or so now good luck with ur grow and If you check out my thread you will see led bulbs do a good job that’s what I use on splitters

[SuperiorBuds]

@anon95954822

looking outside and seeing the 4+ feet of snow in the backyard and 8+ foot snowbanks at the end of the driveway played some part in that decision too

Haha I feel your pain. My snowbanks are over 8 foot tall as well and I’m running out of places to put it. The melt this year is going to be a pain in the ass. Looking out over Superior right now it looks frigid and it makes me glad I work from home.

Welcome back, good luck getting back into the hobby!

[AUM]

Looking fine!!! As they say here bro: I sit in the front row Happy growing!

And yes, to me growing is very addictive too Its such a joy!

[anon95954822]

Been busy the last few days… between reading and trying to put some “semi-finishing touches” (always room for improvement) on my cabinets, I managed to get myself a bit more organized and hopefully headed in the right direction. I have so many of you on OG to thank for providing me with the means(knowledge) to get to this point, that I had better start writing down names as I read. I am sure that anyone who reads this will see their own handiwork in my pictures, as the threads on here are a wealth of information.

From meager beginnings…

As I said earlier, I was gifted a clone from my friend. It kind of caught me with my pants down… I knew what I wanted to do, but I wasn’t really set up for it. This was last September… It was in a Solo cup, about 8" tall, and in need of water…At first, it was put under a desk lamp with CFL, and I nursed it along until I could rig up something better. I had only intended to try and take a few clones for a Spring planting and see what happened.

Then I found OG and all YOU bad influences had to post all these great ideas.

For a quick fix I did this

I am a frugal(a.k.a. “CHEAP”) person by nature, so I prefer to try and re-purpose things as much as I can. Or try and find a inexpensive way to do it… doesn’t always work out but oh well.

I wanted to line the cabinet with something reflective, so I went to my third favourite store Dollorama… where I picked up a few of these…

And some of these for future consideration…

And these…

I wasn’t in a hurry but I knew I had to get to work if I wanted to make it happen. So I lined the walls, and then looked into lighting options. I came across the 7-In-1 splitters and the 5-In-1 splitters on Amazon (via OG). I opted for 1 of each as given the dimensions of my space and 2X7I1 it would have been snug.

I bought a power bar with a timer, found some old extension cords, some old light sockets (but still serviceable), old PC fans, old adapters, some chain, a few hooks, etc…I am lucky I am a “closet” hoarder.

Well, after finally getting my butt in gear, and trying not to let the “couchlock” get the better of me, not to mention life in general, I have finally made, what I think is some good progress.

Still a work in progress as I plod along, but I am getting closer…

And just for Good Luck and Good Karma, I thought I would hang my first soapstone carving in the shack…

I’m gonna need all the luck I can get. I have made some pretty drastic changes in the past couple of days, but I think they were for the best… Peace

p.s. Sorry for the long-winded post but there’s more coming

[AUM]

Hey bro, that is looking superb, clean and neat and I think this will a fine grow <3 Blessings for the go!!!

[anon95954822]

Well, I’m back… After getting things sort of organized, I figured I would take some time and monitor the cabinet a bit to see how it performed. I adjusted the height of the lights, different fan speeds, etc. to try and find a happy medium but the temperature was getting into the 90s and really starting to take a toll on my first run. They weren’t liking it. First, I took off the sleeve and carbon insert from my exhaust and that helped a bit, but the temps were still high. I did a bit of reading on Air Intake and I am glad I did. It saved me a heap of grief.

I got out the trusty hole saw, drilled 4 holes through the cabinet floor (thin veneer), lined the edges with small strips of gorilla tape, and then covered the holes with small squares of window mesh, to help keep out the creepy crawlies.

Back In Place

It seems to have helped quite a bit as I am starting out at ~65F & ~60% RH, and after 6 hours the temperature has been pretty stable at 86F and ~30% RH. Not perfect conditions, but much better than before. I still have to come up with a better solution to my exhaust situation, and I have an idea or two I may try, before I break down and buy a carbon filter and fan. I’m not really concerned about smell yet, so I’ll take a minute or two and read some more.

I kind of went on a pruning spree. I did some reading and decided it was time to give Momma a good trim. Part of the reason I let her get as tall as she did was twofold. I wanted to see how this strain grew as well as providing me with a source to take clones from and “practice” cloning. I was thinking of building a bubblecloner like I had before, but opted to keep it simpler. At first, I tried an Aerogarden, but that met with disaster. I only tried 3 cuttings so it wasn’t a big loss, just a mistake on my part. I had my Promix, so I just took the smallest planters I had and filled them while gently tamping the soil, slightly moistening it to try and imitate a jiffy pellet. Scarified the stem, dipped in Rooting hormone and plugged. Put in my fancy cloning “chamber” (Rubbermaid with a random,clear blue lid) and under a cfl. Actually worked pretty good as 8 out of 8 rooted. Tried same procedure with another brand of soil, just to experiment, and it failed miserably. Extreme yellowing and not even a hint if any signs of roots on the 6 cuttings after two weeks. Disposed them. Got some jiffy pellets, and they have been pretty successful using the same method; 7 out of 7 on the first trial, and just put 15 more in just for shits and giggles. It’s good practice. If anyone is looking for a rooted clone or a few, or even cuttings, you are more than welcome.

Promix Roots…

Jiffy Roots…

This is a quick shot of my small veg/clone chamber…

Momma’s in the back left corner much lighter than before, and temporarily there until I figure out her permanent home. It’s a bit more crowded in there now, I just have to figure out where everything is going to go.

Anyways, thanks for looking, certainly open to suggestions… especially from anyone that has grown this strain before. I am confused quite a bit but loving it. I love watching plants grow. This is a blast…

[anon95954822]

I was feeling a bit apprehensive when I first gave my Mother plant such a drastic haircut, and then crammed her into a tight corner of an overcrowded cabinet, so I felt the need to remedy her situation. In some respects, I feel bad for culling plants because of a lack of room. I’ve been trying to expand a bit to give them the best environment that I am capable of, and to try in that never-ending quest to be more organized.

The other half of the wardrobe I am using, was a chest of drawers, until a couple days ago. I got a few tools out and started dismantling it to convert it into a new mother chamber, etc. It’s 20"X20"X30"H. It is still a bit of a work in progress but I think she likes it in her new home. She deserved a better home as she has taught me so much already.

She seems to be recovering well, as well as some earlier clones that I keep around because I still have some room. Oh and a couple tomato plants needing a boost.I am so glad I got off my butt and got some much needed improvements done.

It has helped me get my VC chamber a little more organized.

I just checked, and quite a few of the 15 cuttings in Jiffy Pellets are rooting. Oddly enough, I think I have a home for 10 of them. My friend KB had to shut his grow down after his last harvest due to issues with his landlord, so he was quite happy to learn that I managed to keep Momma alive and taking cuttings. He mentioned he was doing an outdoor grow this year, so I figured I will re-gift him with 10 healthy clones and he can do with them what he will. The timing is getting closer to getting started for outdoors around here… still lots of snow but when it goes it will go. Hell, I trap minnows for fishing from spring to fall, so I may even attempt a couple of LITFA guerilla grows along the creek systems out in the bush where I go.

Let’s just say, my first attempt at training/tying down a plant did not go well…lol… I have read enough to know that plants can stretch quite a bit, and with my limited vertical space, not to mention the small footprint for 4 plants, I felt I had waited a bit too long to start. I was undecided as to whether to scrog or whatever, so I thought to try and just train them to form a bit of a canopy. I drilled some small holes along the edge of the pots, screwed in a few small eyelets for tie down points, and used some thin elastic cord for tie downs. None of the 4 were topped , until my first attempt to bend it down…
Snap… Oh well, I found it’s limit… I didn’t attempt to repair it as I felt with 4 plants in such a small space I was pushing the limits a bit for my first time in awhile. Then I remembered a little tip about tying the base of the plant first as an anchor point(thank you whomever you are. I have been doing so much reading lately it’s like info overload). Worked like a charm for the next 3.

Scar tissue on first “victim” to my clumsiness…

And some pistils.

So far, the flowering chamber has been pretty steady around those readings, but I try and keep an eye on it every so often (mother hen syndrome), just to see if there is any significant changes, especially since I put more heat in the cabinet next to it.

As I said earlier, it is still a work in progress. I have a few cosmetic issues to fix up, and a small issue of light leaking out. It is an older wardrobe, that I am sure has been around longer than me, judging by the screws, construction, etc, so all is not square. I do kind of like having that “drawbridge drawer” on the mother chamber just because it can double as a work platform. And I mounted the drawer fronts back on the front to keep it original looking.

A few weeks ago, I found an old plastic case with a few beans in it. I know 6 out of the 9 left were probably no good, as I tried a few before, and never had one viable one. They were probably 10+ year old bag seed so I kind of knew none would pop. The other 3, honestly I only felt the one that did pop would. The other 2 I had kept were far greener, and the one that did take was more “mature looking”. All seeds were soaked, paper towel, ziplock, etc. Anyways, this is my very last bag seed now…

The bottom 2 leaves have since yellowed (prev. pic)…

If I had to guess at a strain, I would think it’s possibly kush of some sort. I remember at the time I saved this seed that Kush OG was what was “commercially” predominant in my area. Who knows… It’s just another variable for me to experiment with, and it gives me a bit more experience, before I shell out a bunch of money on some Blueberry and Blueberry crosses. I fell in love, not only with the flavor and high of the bud, but also the quality of it. It would be an accomplishment for me to be able to someday grow my personal favorite, Blueberry, as I have not had it in years. My mouth actually waters when I think about it…lol. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy SWOG too.

Anyways, sorry for rambling on. I don’t post often, a lot of reading to do, but I’ll try and keep it updated. Should be getting Megacrop any day now, so looking forward to trying it out…

Peace

[beacher]

Nice setup there, all the ladies look very happy. Good that your intakes helped with temps, but it looks like your plants may be blocking them a bit?

If you could put them on racks or something to allow more air through you’d probably notice a difference, if not putting another intake at the bottom of the side might help. You’d be surprised how much intake area can be needed to feed a fan!

[toastyjakes]

Looking good @anon95954822!! And nothing wrong with frugal growing, I’m right there with ya on repurposing before purchasing.

Clean looking setup! Yeah you wanna start training before the stems start to go all Woody and before you water them… thirsty plants are easier to bend without snapping

[Tinytuttle]

Great looking thread @anon95954822 plants are looking happy will be following along on the grow!

[anon95954822]

Just thought I was due for an update. Just plodding along, trying to apply as much LITFA as I can. Trying to keep it simple, and figure things out as I go along. There always seems like there is something to do though, little tweaks here and there to make things go smoother.

I took a (crappy) picture of the bottom of the planters, to give @beacher a better idea of how they cover the intake. They are raised a bit and sort of centered over the intake, and temps seem to be pretty good, but you are right, if I need to drill a hole off to the side I will.

I have been taking quite a few cuttings, more for practice than anything else, and to find a reliable method of cloning. The Jiffy pellet, scarification, dipping in Promix stim-root, and light mistings to retain a bit of humidity in my rubbermaid has seemed to work pretty consistently. Fifteen of the fifteen cuttings in my previous post all rooted and were put into solo cups. Funny thing, I see the solo cups every time I go to The Beer Store and I never remember to grab some. I had to write it on my hand on my last visit just so I wouldn’t. They are so convenient, and it saves me from scrounging around and trying to find enough planters. I have a bunch of other (veg. and flower) seeds and cuttings started as well, so it makes sense… and cheap too.

The 10 along the back I have earmarked for my friend KB. I will be going to see him in a couple more days and thought I’d surprise him with a gift. The other five I think I will try a few different things with. It really is a resilient plant, and continues to teach me. I’m not growing it, it is growing me… make sense? I have a few earlier clones vegging in case something goes drastically wrong with my girlz, kind of a back up plan, but I’d rather stick with Plan A.

I was reluctant to chop my mother plant so much, but I had to do it, and am glad I did. She seems to have recovered pretty well, and is filling back in nicely. At least I think she is…

When I lopped her, I wasn’t sure what to do with the tops so I filled up a glass jar with water, and put them aside for a bit. After about a week, I just decided to salvage what cuttings I could, and try rooting them. I kind of neglected them, so I’m not expecting much… Not too concerned really. My little rubbermaid was empty, and I was curious to try and push it a little.

Oh yeah, I also kept my “accidental topping” when I first tied them down… Just a sentimental fool I guess… Oh well, part of the experience and learning curve.

Properly using nutrients has been my biggest weak point so far. I find for the most part I tend to underfeed my plants (not just mj), and it shows just as much as overfeeding can. I’m glad that Overgrow is around again, because reading through threads has not only given me more info on signs and “possible” remedies of problems, but also the “guts” to up my dosages a bit. The worst thing that could happen is that it’s screwed and you start over…SH it happens…

I have been using these (improperly) for the longest time. Way too weak in doses and far too few feedings. I was probably flushing any nutrients out as they were watered mostly with straight water (Culligan).

I went out and got one of those cheap soil testing kits. I know they are not the greatest but I was lucky to find one at all. I did a few tests, and got a wake up call. The pH seemed ok, but everything else was reading extremely low. Logically, it made sense…lol.
After that, I kind of just said “Fuck it” and to take a more aggressive approach to feeding.
I started upping the doses bit by bit and I feel it’s been paying off. Plants look better than they have in awhile.

I will be switching to Megacrop when it gets here. I ordered it directly from @GreenleafNutrients, and am at the mercy of Canada Post now. It was marked in transit from Vancouver airport last Sunday, so who knows. I probably should have done the Amazon thing as I’ve heard it is quicker, but I also like to deal directly with a company when I can. No worries…

Here’s a few pics from March 8

And some from today, March 10

I do know one thing… I won’t be watering again an hour before lights out. I must have hit the dew point, because when lights on came around, I saw this…

Again, sorry for rambling on. It feels kinda good to contribute something back to the Overgrow community considering everything I have learned here. I am becoming more of a believer in LEDs every day… Dammit, I wish the snow would stop… another blizzard…

Peace

[beacher]

Looking good, you’ve definitely got the cloning down! I used oasis cubes for years with great results but they stopped working for me for whatever reason and have been getting good results with peat pucks since.

Those elevated pots are nice to allow air flow and keep things off the ground, I could have used them with my last round!

[anon95954822]

After more reading, and juggling different ideas in my head as to my next step, I finally decided to make a screen for my cabinet and try a scrog grow. I just cut strips from the old drawer backs and drilled holes for the nylon cord. I used a bit of copper wire on the cord intersections and crimped it with pliers to keep it in place. It is actually pretty stiff.

Before (March 13)…

Pre-fitting…

After…

And then a couple of pictures from today (March 14)…

The screen is 12" above the top of planters, my lights are currently 14" above the screen with another 14" of room to raise them as needed. I am planning to flip to 12/12 very shortly. I had hoped to have my mega crop delivered by now to use for flowering, but no such luck. Yet… If I have to I will just go to the nursery down the road and pick up a bottle of GO Bio-thrive Bloom…

Anyways, thanks for looking in…

Peace

[anon95954822]

Been a few days since I did an update, so I thought I was due. I let the girls veg for a few more days to try and weave a few branches to fill out the screen better, then flipped to 12/12 four days ago. I made a slight change to my lights, in that I replaced 2 of the 5000K leds with 2 2700K leds, still 15W each. I now have a 2:1 ratio of 2700K:5000K leds. Not sure if it will make a difference or not… I had hoped that the megacrop I had ordered would be here for flowering, but after waiting three weeks, I just went down to the local nursery and picked up some of this…

I had intended to get GO Bio-thrive Bloom, but it was not in stock, and this Solo-Tek Bloom 3-8-8 seemed to be the best option out of what was available. They did have GO Bio-Bud, but from my understanding this is an additive or bloom booster, and at $45/bottle (946 ml) I just couldn’t justify it…yet. Not sure how good this stuff is but I guess I’ll find out. I think even when my megacrop arrives I will just save it for another run and just finish with what I have now. Maybe do a comparison grow…

They seem to be doing okay for the time being… Haven’t killed 'em yet so that’s a good sign lol. I just love watching them grow…

Well, I need to roll a joint and watch an episode of Hogan’s Heroes…

Peace
DaFozz

[Phatlewtz]

That’s an excellent show! I mean, who knew it would foster the career of the greatest Game Show Host in entertainment history in Dick Dawson…From Family Feud to The Running Man, just an impressive body of work! (This is what happens post joint)

[anon95954822]

Go figure… I mount this on the outside of the door to my cabinet, and my timer decides to fry on me the very next morning for lights out… I caught it about 2 hours later, and shut them down. Not overly worried about it as it is still early in flower, and I had a backup available until I could get another. I had read somewhere that cheap timers had a tendency to do that and it only took a week of use and mine folded like a 27 offsuit… Something to be wary of…

I had previously posted that I was going to use the Solo Tek Bloom for this grow, but after some thought, and the arrival of my order of Mega Crop (Thank you @GreenleafNutrients, although the packaging does make it look like a bag of H… lol) , and it being my first attempt with cannabis in a long time, I opted to keep it simple and switch to Mega Crop to finish. It Is what I purchased it for in the first place…I’ll just use the Solo Tek for some of the flowers in the garden later on…

Basically, the last week has just been general maintenance. I have been trying to do a bit of weaving (Thank you @toastyjakes for the tip on training while they are dry, haven’t snapped a limb since lol(knock on a weed knuckle)) , a bit of defoliation (to allow better airflow and to uncover lower bud sites), and just trying to keep an eye on what the plants are telling me. Just trying to control the stretch a bit and even things out. I have been feeding all 4 plants the same but 1 has started to yellow a little bit. My last feeding was my first with Mega Crop, and I have been measuring out volume for each plant. I had noticed this a bit before and I gave a foliar spray with Epsom salt and they seemed to like it, so I added a bit of Epsom to the 1 that was yellowing a bit and it seems to have helped.

From March 24…

A few pics from March 27

March 29…

Some defoliation and training…

I released them all from bondage, even the last string in last pic as they were no longer necessary and it gives me a little more room underneath. It amazes me still how tough the stalks get when stressed a bit… I added the pest strips as a preventative measure. I have not seen any sign of any insect life in any of my grow spaces, but with the warming temperatures outside I have noticed a few winged insects coming to life… And the forecast is calling for 15-20 cm of snow later today…lol… C’mon Spring…

They are close to their second week in flower so I am thinking I will just leave them stretch from now on. A little bit of LITFA and some feeding in the next day or so. Might add a bit of CalMag with the next feeding, as it probably wouldn’t hurt.

Anyways, Thanks for looking, sorry for rambling, have a bit more to post, just need to give my weary eyes a break…

Peace
DaFozz

[anon95954822]

On a side note, I wanted to do a bit of an update on my bag seed (unknown, possibly OG Kush) plant. It’s my very last seed, and the only one to pop so I have been kind of nursing it along to keep it going.

Roots before repotting…

Repotted…

I was a little concerned about it because it seemed to be growing ok, but the development of the leaves at the nodes was slow to begin with, and then wanted to shrivel up and die. After some thought I figured my best option was to start training it to allow more light to the lower part of the plant. So, the bondage session began… is it weird that I am beginning to enjoy bondage and marijuana?

From March 22…

March 27…

Today, March 30…

Obviously, I am unsure of sex of the plant yet, but was unsure of how I should approach sexing the plant. I kind of had to stress it a bit to get the lower nodes to develop, and want to try and do things with as little stress as I can. I though about taking clones and sexing them, sexing the “Bruce Jenner “IT plant” (unknown sex)” and re-vegging if F and if M then try and flower it for pollen for “possible” future use. Not sure if I want to complicate my growing to that point yet…lol…

Any opinions?

Anyways, thanks for looking…

Peace
DaFozz

[anon95954822]

Just a little update on a few things going on… I had to make a few little “bush league” tweaks to my cabinet to address a couple of issues. I think part of the reason my cheap timer failed (other than it being cheap lol) was I was running all the lights and fans off of it, and it was too much. I needed to figure out a quick fix, so I did this…lol

“Bush League” at it’s finest…lol, but it actually solved two problems for me. Now, it is only the lights and exhaust fan on a new heavy duty timer mounted to the back of the cabinet which should be less of a load on the timer contacts. The fans now run 24/7 which is giving the cabinet a more consistent humidity level. I didn’t have any fans running during lights out and the RH at lights on was hitting upwards of 75%, and seeing as how they were approaching their 3rd week in flower and I had read that 40% was more desirable, I needed to change it up. It seems to be around 80F and 40-45% during lights on, and in the low 70s F and max 50% RH at lights on. They seem to be kind of healthy and growing…

A few pics from April 3…

And then they got a bit unhappy with me for a bit of over watering…

But they have perked up today…

The leaf damage on the one picture is the result of my heavy handedness… I have a terrible habit of grabbing the plants by the tips of the leaves to look at them, and usually end up tearing a few along the way lol… I have been checking thoroughly for insects and have been lucky to not find any yet.

Anyways, thanks for looking… I am enjoying this little “experiment” of mine and learning a load along the way…

Peace
DaFozz

[anon95954822]

Again, on a side note, I have been doing quite a bit of cloning, and in a way I am glad I have been because it gives me the opportunity to try out different things with regards to growing. I was bored the other night, and started looking over my growing collection of clones. As I hate kill plants in general, at least on purpose anyways, so rather than cull a bunch of plants(I had already given my friend KB the ten best clones I had) I decided to try out some different things like HST/LST, FIM or fimming, etc. I would rather learn on an “expendable” plant than one I intend to run, and I have a few to spare, so time to get a bit more experience.

I had some leggy clones sitting in the windowsill. They are getting a decent amount of sunlight so they are stretching a bit. I like to keep them around as house plants… they are just so nice to look at… I figured a bit of torture was needed and decided to try some high stress training… at least I think this is what it is called…

I didn’t take the before pics. I was smokin’ and kinda spaced out when I got the idea to try it after I had read of others trying it. I just kind of took my time and tried to remember what I had read, and basically tried to be gentle…

Something to mess around with… I guess I’ll know in a bit how they make out… interested to see what happens as I have never personally tried it and thought it might be a good skill to try and learn… Might come in handy some day, eh?

I think I’ll give fimming a go next time I get bored… This cabin fever crap is kinda gettin’ to me…

Peace
DaFozz