GNZ’s LED Cabs and Outdoor 2024/2025

[Gnz]

Hi everyone and thank you all for the very warm welcome to OG.

I’m starting this diary early to cover my cabinet builds and the first grow in them, I haven’t grown in about 6 years so have a lot of research to do and will probably need some help and advice!

The plan is to build 2 2x2 cabinets, one for veg/autos and one for flower. The veg cab will run 70-80w of LED and the flower cabinet will run 140-150w. They will be ventilated by a single AC Infinity Cloudline T6 and carbon filter, intake and exhaust air will be ducted outside.

I have spent the last two months attempting to germinate 6-10 year old seeds which were not stored well. From ~150 seeds so far I’ve had 3 plants survive, one of which was male and culled, one is female and one has yet to show sex. I have a recovered embryo from the last round of seeds which looks like it may survive too.

Last week I put together a temporary cab to house these plants and grow them as mothers. It is a 27”x12”x27” cabinet salvaged from our old kitchen, running a 100w 5000k LED at 40% power. I’ll likely drop this to ~20% as I’m currently seeing 40+DLI at canopy level which is overkill for veg.

Exhaust is via 125mm 240v pc fan, intake is through a pair of vents in the doors (currently removed for painting).
Temps are stable around 22c/71f, humidity is 50-60%.

The two plants inside currently are a Delicious Candy female on the left and a mystery bag seed on the right, they’re running in soil/perlite mix amended with dolomite lime and fed half strength Canna Terra Vega every 3rd watering. The Delicious Candy is in a PB 6.5 bag and I will transplant the mystery plant into the same size tomorrow.

These plants will be used for clones in the new cabinets and then be planted outside for summer. I’ll try ordering some fresh seeds online again soon as I’d like some known genetics and also want to try Auto’s for the first time.

The first grow in the new cabinets will be soil and then I’ll try a diy autopot or top fed coco/perlite recirculating setup.

Here is my last small cabinet from ~2016 before I moved to a larger 4x4 tent. It was a double stacked flower cabinet running a 150w CMH upstairs and 2x70w CMH downstairs.

I’ll be back to update once I’ve taken some clones, started my permanent cabinet build or anything else interesting happens.

Thanks for reading and happy growing!

[Fortman420]

Mr Sparkle does small cabinet grows and has a grow journal of his endevors. Tons of amazing modifications and imo quite impressive quality and production. Heres the link

Growing with Mr.Sparkle : 2024

Figured i should finally get my 2024 thread started. Introductions, Hi I’m Mr.Sparkle and welcome to my grow journal. This year im gonna be away from home for a few 2-3 week spans so my growing will be a lot less than in the past just to coincide around not having to worry about plants when im away, so we will see how this thread runs. So refresh for those that are new around here or people who haven’t seen my threads im typically an auto grower that likes to make my own crosses and just play…

[Gnz]

Thanks! I’ve read all his grow diaries here and used to read them on icmag too, if I can get a grow running half as well as he can I’ll be happy

[Gnz]

1 week update. Good news and bad news.

Good news:
Great growth on both plants. No definitive sex on the right hand mystery plant yet, I thought I spotted white pistils a few days ago but looking more like leaflets now. I decided not to repot yet as they’ll both go into 7gal buckets outside tomorrow and using another PB6.5 bag felt like unnecessary plastic waste.

Have taken some cuttings of the Delicious Candy

The bad news:
Ambient daytime temps in the storage room I’d planned to build my cabinets in have rocketed over the last 2 days and we’re still a few days from the start of summer.
It was ~80f outside yesterday and 92f inside the storage room, we’ll see 95f+ outside in the peak of summer.

Going to work on pulling intake air from outside this week. I’ll pull air from the shade outside to begin with and may bury 30ft of 6” DWV as passive cooling for my intake air if temps are still high.

Plan B is to build a well ventilated 10x8 shed outside in the shade to hold my cabinets.

Plan C is to frame a smaller lung room and run a small a/c unit, we’re on off-grid solar power so I’d prefer to avoid this.

Plan D is grow outside over summer and inside over winter

Plan E, and my long term goal, is to build an underground room from large concrete box culvert or cast in place concrete panels.

Back to positives:
The Delicious Candy and Mystery Plant will be going outside in their 7gal buckets tomorrow, outdoor flower season doesn’t really start until February so they’ll have plenty more veg time.

Any good tips on growing monster outdoor plants? I don’t have a huge amount of outdoor experience. I was considering 10gal buckets or even 25gal bins to make the most of the next two months of veg.

Happy growing

Edit: forgot to add, plants are still on Canna Terra Vega but are now fed every watering, which is daily. Current recipe per litre of PH7 water is 1ml Vega (half strength), 1tbs Dolomite Lime and 1/8 tsp/0.62ml of PH Down. Final PH is 5.9.

[Gnz]

Busy few weeks without much to update.

Outside
The Delicious Candy and mystery seed have been outside in 7gal tubs for 2 weeks now and have roughly tripled in size.

Delicious Candy

They’re looking happy and have had some training, at least 7-8 weeks of veg to go so they’ll probably get big. I’m planning to transplant to 20-25gal containers in another 2 weeks.

Mystery Seed

The Mystery Seed, which I suspect is Green Crack, still hasn’t shown signs of being male or female.

Inside
I’ve framed, lined and insulated a smaller lung room about 8x8 ft with a 10ft ceiling. Will be cooling it with 2800w of portable a/c which the solar system won’t notice during daylight hours, hopefully it won’t need to run overnight.

4/4 clones rooted and planted in 2 and 3 litre pots of bottom fed coco/perlite. They got a little toasty in the heat but new growth is looking better.

There are some more seeds in the 5th pot and another 4 clones just starting in the clear bin underneath the pots.

Planning to run 4 to 6 outside this season, the 2 current ones in 20-25gal tubs and 2-4 of the largest clones in 7 gal tubs as they’ll have less veg time.

Taking January off so will likely build my permanent indoor cabinets then. I’m also looking more seriously at a dedicated underground space, we have a garage build planned for 2025 and I could include a small basement.

Happy growing!

[Gnz]

1 month update

The Delicious Candy and Mystery Seed are doing well, a little bit of insect activity already so have been treating with BT. They’re drinking about 2gal/day each now that the weather is heating up so will transplant into 25gal bags this weekend.

The Mystery Seed finally popped some tiny white hairs this morning, which I’m happy about. Looks like this will be a slightly slower more sativa heavy plant. The main strains I was smoking back when I collected these seeds, besides Delicious Candy, were Green Crack and Durban Poison so I suspect this is one of the two.

Clones are taking off, I put the two largest outside today and they’ll go into the 7gal pots when the DC and Mystery Seed are transplanted this weekend.

Catch you next week for another update!

Happy growing

[Gnz]

Week 5 update. Been a busy week with a new addition to our family arriving just in time for Christmas.

Not much to update on the indoor situation yet, I have the air conditioning unit to install and am considering permanently framing veg and flower sections into my little lung room. It’s overkill for the ~0.5-0.75g/day that I consume but gives me plenty of room for breeding and experiments.
I need to keep power usage in mind due to being completely off grid, although I do have at least 5-6kw of overhead in my solar during daylight hours.

On to the outdoor plants!

Delicious Candy

She’s been in a 25gal tree bag for a week now and is standing about 45” from the soil.

She looks like she’s been into and back out of flower, growth overall has slowed a little this week but the bud sites have had a lot of small leaf growth.
Flower outdoors doesn’t usually start till February here, daylight hours are over 15.5hrs currently and she’s in direct sunlight for 14+. I suspect it’s a reaction to coming outside after 24/24 inside or just heavy preflower due to her maturity (10-12 weeks).

Mystery Seed

She’s doing well in her 25gal tree bag also, standing 33” above the soil largely due to her main top being crushed, bent and tied down when she first went outside.

She’s not displaying the same flower symptoms as the Delicious Candy, she’s also 10-12 weeks old but only showed sex a week ago.

I’m anticipating another 5-6 weeks of veg growth before our daylight hours drop into flower territory.

Clones

I’ve selected these two Delicious Candy to go into the 7gal pots, for 4 plants outside total this year.

The two smaller clones I have left (1x Delicious Candy 1x mystery seed) will stay inside as bonsai mothers for now.

That’s all for today, thanks for reading and I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Catch you in the new year for another update!

Happy growing

[Gnz]

Happy New Years everyone, I hope 2025 is great for you and your loved ones.

Quick update today.

Delicious Candy

Still growing well and looking happy, she’s put on 10” in height this week and is responding well to some bending and lst. Starting to grow into the offset Christmas tree form I wanted for the lower growth.
No progression of the early flower symptoms and her stall in growth has passed, which is a relief.

Delicious Seeds puts this strain at a maximum 140cm height outdoors, we’re at that now so not sure what to expect after stretch in February. She’s already the tallest Indica I’ve ever grown.

Mystery Seed

Also doing well and putting on height vigorously. This may end up overtaking the Delicious Candy for size as it looks more sativa heavy and is still firmly in veg phase. Hoping I’ll be able to ID this one when it goes into flower.

New Gals

These two Delicious Candy have been in their 7 gal bins for three days, I think they’ll stay in these for the full season as they likely won’t catch up in size with the older plants. At least a month of veg growth to go yet, so we’ll see where they are in a week.

Sunset family photo after a little water and shower.

See you again next week for another update

Happy growing

[Gnz]

Little late on the update; turns out that throwing a newborn into the mix with a toddler and 7 day work schedule cuts into my internet access a touch

But here we are! Let’s go smallest to biggest.

New gals
Found a spot for these two leftover Mystery Seed clones, they won’t have much time for veg but we’ll see how they do.

Got a little over-enthusiastic with this one and had to perform some improvised orthopaedic surgery. She’s wearing an external fixator for a week or so.

Delicious Candy - 7gal
These also had some enthusiastic bending and topside fan leaves removed about 5 days ago, they only have ~4 weeks until flowering could kick off so should improve yield vs leaving them as little christmas trees.

Mystery Seed - 25gal
The second largest, but probably not for long.
She’s doing great, lower growth is due for some more training and a plucking but I’m liking how she’s spreading out and evenly distributing budsites.

Delicious Candy - 25gal
In the lead by only 4” but finally passing 5’ tall
Have given her a little pluck around the lower growth, or in arboricultural terms a crown lift, which feels more appropriate considering her size.

Definitely looking like she went into flower for a brief moment when she came outside and has now returned to veg. I haven’t had this happen before so am unsure how badly this impacts growth and flower but I’m sure it’s not good news.

That’s updates for today, maybe I should have this diary moved to the Outdoor Growing section and start a new one once there’s some action in a cabinet?
This has turned into “Gnz tries to wrangle a couple of ounces from an amateur outdoor grow”

Happy growing!

[Gnz]

Update: looks like we’ll be flowering soon, normally flower starts in early-mid February but this summer has been unusual.

Delicious Candy - 7gal

This one hasn’t shown major pre flower yet, the top of the main leader has just been bent over again and the branches have been folded out.

Mostly just continuing to train the branches out on this one, bud sites starting to develop she looks about a week ahead of the other clone.

Mystery Seed - sharing ~15 gal

Too late in the season for a solid veg, we’ll see where they are after stretch.

Mystery Seed - 25gal

Now the largest and still growing vigorously, no sign of flower kicking off yet. Training lower branches out and have done a light defoliate this week.

Delicious Candy - 25gal

The big DC has continued on into flower, looks like she didn’t reveg much which is positive. Bud sites look about 2-3 weeks in, I’ve given her a heavier defoliate and cut nitrogen from her nutrients this week.

That’s all for today, next update we might start seeing some stretch action from the big mystery seed. I might get my full years supply (about 10oz) off just these plants!

[C_in_CT]

They’re looking good! I hope the mystery weed (and all of it really) turns out amazing!

[Gnz]

Thanks dude, congrats on the recent wedding.

This is my first real outdoor grow so there’s a lot I could have done better but I’m happy with how they’re looking

Hopefully end up with some reasonable smoke in a couple of months!

[Gnz]

Another quick update, we’re stretching!

Had to move these girls over behind my workshop today, we’re having some rough weather and they were taking a beating from the wind when I woke up this morning.

**Mystery Seed - 25gal **
Starting to show some preflower today and stretch beginning in the lower branches.

Delicious Candy - 25gal
Moving along with flower, looks like it will be a little leafy after the reveg but nice to see some buds forming. Defoliating a little each time I water.

Delicious Candy - 7gals
A lot of growth in 4 days, one is showing some solid pre flowers and the other is catching up. Keeping the branches trained out and plucking fan leaves as I need to.

Haven’t ventured down to check the little Mystery Seed clones this morning, but they’re in a sheltered spot and I’ll update once the weather lifts.

Might need to buy a little tunnel house for these girls if the wet weather continues much longer into flower!

Happy growing

[Gnz]

Time for another update.

Mystery Seed - sharing 15gal

More growth than I expected, may end up with a pair of knee high plants and a few grams! Not putting much effort in with these besides throwing a bit of fert at them occasionally.

Delicious Candy - 7 gals

These have really taken off, have given them some more aggressive training and tied out the laterals. They’ll probably have a light thinning by the time you next see them.

Especially happy with how this one is doing for structure.

Delicious Candy - 25 gal
Seems to have mostly stayed in flower, a lot of extra leaf from its time in reveg but I think I’ll let her go rather than culling. Worst case she’ll make some okay bubble. Putting on a bit of weight now at least.

Mystery Seed - 25 gals

Not a whole lot of stretch yet, but her foliage is filling out and the lower branches are putting on a lot of growth so it’s coming!

Fortunate to be finding a decent selection of flower at the moment, really enjoying the Royal Moby - I think I’ll try to find some seeds for next summer.

That’s all for today, time to load the vape and I’ll see you for the next update!

Happy Growing

[Gnz]

Quick update. Everything is stretching.

I’ve realised that I mixed my clones up. I actually have a Delicious Candy and a Mystery Seed in each pot size, rather than the 7 gal bins both being DC and the small ones being Mystery Seed.

The 7 gal DC and small DC are both flowering.
It will be interesting to see the impacts of veg time and pot size for each strain.

Starting to make some revisions to the LED cabinet plans now. If the outdoor plants yield 5 ounces it will last me all year, so my first project will hopefully be making myself some fresh DC seeds!

[Gnz]

Another week in, must be mostly done with stretch now! Let’s get to some updates.

Delicious Candy & Mystery Seed - sharing ~15 gal

Merging into one bush, DC on the left (FIM’d at transplant) and mystery seed on the right with a single top.

Not looking too miserable for a couple of neglected leftovers, about 2ft tall.

Mystery Seed 25 gal

Maybe the largest plant I’ve ever grown. A few weeks into flower now, she’ll need some bracing if she bulks up. I still have absolutely no idea what she is beyond being a very Sativa heavy hybrid. We can take guesses further into flower.

Delicious Candy & Mystery Seed - 7 gals

Posting these two together so you can see how it became obvious they weren’t both Delicious Candy.

Delicious Candy

Mystery Seed

Both doing great, could use more plucking. The DC is well into flower, the Mystery Seed is still in pre flower. I think she will be late April/early May before finishing.

Delicious Candy - 25 gal

Mostly doing okay, a little ugly from the brief reveg but the buds are fattening up and don’t look too fluffy. Planning to let this one finish, expecting at least another month.

I had one branch showing some signs of N tox or lockout a few days ago. I’d kept feeding veg nutes (plus a dose of fish fert) thinking she’d completely revert rather than keep flowering, I should have cut this sooner.

I checked soil and runoff PH which looks to be around 6.4-6.5

I then flushed with 50gal of PH’d water which seems to have reduced the symptoms overnight, the leaves were completely canoed yesterday.

I’ll flush again after 3-4 days once she’s dried out to hopefully clear some more N from the soil, then give her a few light doses of PK and molasses to finish. Will continue flushing if she’s still this green nearing harvest.

Family Photo

Indoor Cabinet plans have been revised a lot. I only need 5-6oz a year for myself and don’t really know any smokers to gift to. We’ve also realised we’ll no longer have a guest room once it becomes the new baby room, so I’m dismantling the lung room inside our storage room before building it into a new bedroom.

New plan at this stage is a 2-3 zone stealth micro cabinet for my office space, enough room to experiment without being swamped by yields.

Big update today, see you in a week!

Happy Growing

[C_in_CT]

Good save on the big DC! What is your anticipated yield from your current plants?

That seems like a good revised plan, I look forward to seeing the results!

[Gnz]

Not a clue on yield, I’m used to growing foot tall plants inside under little lights and the large dc and mystery seed are both over 6ft tall and 4ft wide

I’ll make a conservative guess of 4-5oz on the big DC, 5-6 on the big mystery seed, 1 each on the 7gals and 1 total from the two sharing a hole. 12oz total?

Though in hindsight I used to get 3-4oz off plants the size of the 7gal DC inside, so I’m probably underestimating. Any more informed guesses?

[C_in_CT]

Oh I have no idea. I was literally debating how to phrase my question, because on the one hand, I’m really bad at judging how big a plant is from pictures, but on the other hand if those pots are twenty-five gallons those seem really big!

And based on nothing other than reading various logs (because I’m still a very new grower), I’ve seen people get 9oz from a single plant in a 2ftx2ft tent, so I feel like you might beat your year’s requirement here

I was trying to figure out like …how much do you think you’re going to need to grow in your off season indoors?! But it makes sense regardless if it’s experimentation specifically you’re wanting to do.

[Gnz]

I’m 6’3” and would need to stand on something to reach the top of either large plant. I’ll try to put something for scale in the next update.
For now I revise my guesstimate to somewhere between 1-30 oz

I’ll probably keep the best looking 25-30% of this outdoor harvest, bubble or compost the rest and then head back indoors where I vaguely know what I’m doing.

I did think of anonymously gifting my extras. There is a nationwide smokers group on reddit, I could hide some oz’s in my nearest city and drop clues on reddit for them to find it.