My last grow ended quite abruptly on day 81 as I had to dismantle my set up for a Landlord inspection.
Bad news for my harvest, but I still managed to pull over 21 ounces from 3 Autos.
Good news as I have taken the opportunity to rectify a few problems that have been brewing ever since I first set everything up just over 2 years ago......
1. Cleaned the tent for the first time!
2. Managed to re-route some of the wiring
3. Reinforced the roof
4. Created better hanging options to be more flexible with lighting
5. Replaced the 2x broken internal fans (one 6" and one 15")
My 1.4m2 Seahawk tent is a bit crap really..... I've had it just over 2 years, running constantly. The poles are thin and the tent itself is a bit saggy. With extraction on, the walls suck in to give me a space less than 1.2m2.
I use plenty of LEDs and keep all the wiring etc on top of the tent, and about 6 months ago the roof poles started bending in. The pole at the top front has totally bent in the middle, and as I was mid grow, all I did was lash a metal stake to it with some cable ties.
I never got round to fixing the issue until the landlord inspection forced me to dismantle everything.
Now I have the tent back up again, and I've had the opportunity to sort it all out........
First, I swapped the top roof poles for the floor poles, effectively turning the frame upside down. Basically a new set of straight(ish) poles already!
Then I got some heavy mesh from my local DIY shop, I was lucky to find some pre cut to 1.8m x 1.2m with 10cm squares about 5-6mm thick. I bent either side over to make it fit over the tent frame.
After making the tent up again, I unzipped the roof (I didn't have to remove the roof fully as the mesh was 1.2m wide) and fitted the mesh panel over the tent frame and zipped the roof back over over.
Here you can see what I mean by bending the sides over to make it fit......
Here's the panel in place.....
Now the roof is stronger and I have much improved hanging options.......
The only bit of cutting I had to do was to make space for the extraction ducting...... you might see I've cut and bent back a bit just there as the ducting goes up..... pretty easy to do.
You can see something new...... something shiny...... my new Skyline 400W LEDs!!!!! They give off an intense white light and direct vision leaves you staggering around aimlessly.
What else is new in the tent?...... oh yeah, the seedlings.
I had to grow the Daiquiri Lime (for sheer yield) and the Colorado Cookie again, but rather than the Blackberry Kush, I thought Night Queen might be good....... she is one of Dutch Passions strongest Indica Autos with THC over 20% and promises an unusually heavy and long lasting effect! I've heard she doesn't get very big though.
Here they are on day 1 with the Cookie at the top, the Lime on the left and the Night Queen on the right........
They were sitting under 2 Skylines which have been raised to pretty much max height, once they are more established, I will add one Photon 126 and drop them all so they have one light each
I used my usual germination technique of making up 3x 5 litre airpots with 100% Canna Coco plus.
I made up an EC 0.7 nute mix, made up from EC 0 rainwater brought upto EC 0.1 with Cal Mag, then I added H&G Coco nutes to make EC 0.5.
Then I added some Roots Excellurator and Nitrogen Boost to make EC 0.7.
I soaked the Coco with this mix and reserved the remainder for the first week's feeds.
I sowed my seed, covered the pots with clingfilm and topped them with some thick card to block the light. After 3 days in the tent with lights on for warmth, up they popped. 100% record intact.
The pots remained moist, so today it's day 4 and I'm seeing a little dryness on the surface of the Coco.
I gave 500ml to each of them in a circumferential manner (ie around the edges, away from the main stem), and will do so daily for the next few days, upping the EC to 0.8 fairly soon.
I rejigged the lights (in seconds) and lowered them to 2ft to flood my babies with light ..... being Autos, I wanna give them the best start possible to maximise early growth.
Here they are this morning (day 4).....
from L to R Daiquiri Lime, Night Queen and Colorado Cookie
Wish them luck!