u/GreenGrowerExplorer

Finished drying my first space bucket grow over the weekend and I want to share what I actually learned, because most of the space bucket posts I see are setup pics and not many are real harvest debriefs.

5 gallon bucket stacked with a collar, 2 inch net cup, coco perlite mix, single Samsung LM301 COB at 60 watts, small 80mm PC fan for intake, no exhaust fan just passive vents cut into the collar. Strain was Northern Lights auto because it seemed forgiving. 82 days seed to chop. Final dry weight 34 grams.

What worked, LST from day 10. I was aggressive bending side branches out and down and the bucket lid became a nice horizontal plate instead of a single cola. The undersides filled in way better than I expected.

What did not work, I underestimated humidity. Bucket grows trap moisture around the base and I had slight powdery mildew on 2 lower fan leaves around week 4. I caught it, removed the leaves, and added a little silica to my feed, which toughened up the rest of the plant for the remaining weeks.

If you are thinking about trying a bucket grow, do not overlight it. 60 watts was plenty for this space and I got zero bleaching. More lumens would have just cooked her.

Happy with the results and doing another run starting Friday with a photo period this time just to see what I can do. Anyone running buckets want to trade notes on intake fan placement?

Figured I would drop a mid flower update for anyone else running Mephisto gear right now. Week 6 flower, I am on an Alien vs Triangle cut, 3 gallon fabric, living soil with top dress every 3 weeks.

This pheno is a heavier feeder than any Meph strain I have run before. Normally with their gear I can basically water only after week 3 and top dress once in mid flower. Not this girl. She started showing very light tips on the upper fan leaves around day 35, not burn, more like a pale hungry look, and the pistils were already orange on the lower buds which is weird for a plant that should be stacking.

I added a compost tea with a little fish hydrolysate, went back in 4 days later with a top dress of craft blend plus a pinch of Gaia glacial dust, and the new growth tightened up fast. By the end of the week she was looking right again.

Main takeaway for me, Meph strains are generally forgiving but every pheno is its own plant. Do not assume the last run tells you how to feed this one. Watch the canopy weekly and actually respond to what you see.

Frost is incredible on this cut. Terp profile is already loud through the tent zipper. Will post final weight when she is dry.

Anyone else running an AVT cut this round, what are you seeing on feed demand?

Hey grow buddies, wanting to ask this openly because I have read like 40 conflicting answers across the internet.

I am on my second photo period run, 2x4 tent, LED, coco. I have a Gelato 41 that is 32 days from seed, topped twice, currently 16 inches tall with a pretty even canopy from some light LST. The main stem is strong, internodes are tight, side branches are catching up to the main tops.

My question is the simple one that nobody gives me a straight answer on, when is the actual right time to flip her to 12 12? I have heard wait till she fills the tent, I have heard flip when she has 3 to 4 weeks of veg, I have heard some people say flip when the tops are 8 inches below the light.

What is your personal rule of thumb and why? I am leaning toward flipping this weekend because stretch is going to add 40 to 60 percent height and I do not want to outgrow the tent, but I would love to hear what works for more experienced growers before I commit.

Not trying to get a universal answer, just want to hear real rules from real tents.

I am in a legal state and running my second outdoor season. Last year was a learning experience in the most expensive way possible. This year I am doing everything different and figured I would share in case it helps anyone else prepping now.

First thing I am doing, soil amendment is happening 6 weeks before plants go out instead of 6 days. Last year I dropped my girls into cold dead dirt and watched them sit for 3 weeks before they woke up. This year I pre mixed my outdoor holes with compost, worm castings, rock dust, and a handful of kelp meal back in early April. The microbes have had time to do their work before any root touches it.

Second, I am covering every plant with 30 percent shade cloth for the first 2 weeks outside. Transplanting from a tent to full midday sun is brutal. Shade cloth lets them acclimate without the leaf bleach I got last year.

Third, I am actually doing pest prevention instead of pest reaction. Weekly neem foliar up until pre flower, sticky traps in the cages, and I walk each plant every morning with a flashlight. Caterpillars are my number one outdoor enemy here.

Biggest lesson, outdoor is not set and forget. The plants get bigger and the problems get bigger with them. But pound for pound, sun grown is still my favorite smoke of the year.

Anyone in the western US starting to harden off this week?

Want to share some hard earned lessons for anyone making the jump from hobby scale to something closer to a real operation. I am not a massive commercial grower, I run 6 lights in a converted garage, but going from 1 tent to 6 taught me things I wish someone had told me earlier.

First, your environmental control has to scale before your plant count does. Adding plants without upgrading your dehumidifier, your intake, and your circulation is how you get a bud rot event that wipes out a whole week of profit. I lost about 14 percent of one run before I figured out my VPD was swinging from 0.8 to 1.6 overnight because my exhaust was way undersized.

Second, standardize feeding. I used to mix by eye, by memory, and by vibe. At 1 tent you can get away with that. At 6 lights you are going to overfeed one table and starve another and blame it on the plants. Now every res is labeled, every feed is weighed, every pH and EC is logged.

Third, actually look at every plant every day. The moment I started walking the room with a flashlight doing individual leaf checks, I caught pests 7 days earlier on average. That is the difference between one plant getting treated and a full tent getting IPM emergencies.

Small gear, big difference, a pen that logs, a decent hygrometer per light, and a simple journal.

What was the one unsexy upgrade that changed your op?