These are all pics from the beginning of construction to current time. This is my first grow and I wasn't totally prepared for it. 13 plants were given to me 2 weeks before I had my room set up. I took them on anyways. I didn't know it right away but 3 had mites and within the first week I saw webbing on these poor little girls still in cups. They also had stress from transporting them and looked in poor health. I was able to beat the mites off with some neem oil mixed with dish soap. They were small enough to just dip into a solution and then rinse after a few hours, no lights on them. I also fixed the other issues like nute deficiencies and PH balance.

I only had 2-125 watt CFLs to start with, which was fine for these tiny plants. Within the first 2 weeks I did more construction on the room to better insulate it and got a light upgrade. From 2-CFL's to a 400 watt MH bulb with a reflective hood. There was lots going on and I studied daily on my next steps. I spent at least 2 hours a day with the girls. I made a few mistakes here and there like giving them nutes to soon, having the light to close and letting my dog into the room. I'm sure that the mistakes I've made have set them back at least a week, maybe 2. I've still kept them looking healthy and the new growth was great. I can already tell who is strong and who is weak by how they react to over nuting or under watering.

I have 2 Girl Scout plants that are tuff and rarely burn from over nuting, 2 Grape Ape that show every little mistake, 1 Fire Headband OG and 3 that I've called What Da Phuk, Daddy's Girl and Zombie. Zombie should have died long ago. She came to me with the others but refused to grow and was consolidated and then planted outside just before the rains came. She was 3 plants that I put into 1 pot then planted outside. 1 completely died and the other 2 formed the Zombie. She is also in the flowering stage and appears to be farther along than the others. Although she is only 10 inches tall with almost no bush. Just a few big bud zones.

I upgraded again around week 4 of Veg to a way better ballast and 800 watts of MH bulb. During this entire process I was studying different combinations of nutes. I'm pretty sure I've found a good mix and will share it with whoever wants to know. I have not spent a fortune on stuff like top name brands and unnecessary crap. I've spent a whopping $600 so far on nutes, ballast, bulbs, building materials, insulation, fans and light hoods. Not all at once, within the last 10 weeks or 5 pay days. The nutes I have should last 2 years as long as I stay under 10 plants per harvest. That should be the last time I spend anywhere near that much out of my own pocket. After my first harvest I should be able to start saving over 300 a month because I won't be buying herb anymore. It will basically start paying for itself, including the electricity.

I have been paying attention every day and worrying about every little change that didn't seem right. I'm certain that my second harvest will double the first, so I hope. I should have started trimming under the net earlier and watering more often, at least 2 weeks before hand.

I've had 1 Pro Grower come see my set up and he couldn't believe it was my first grow. I explained the fine tuning I've done and plan on doing on my next harvest. I'm on the right path. I've filled lots of squares in the net and have another week or 2 to fill more before letting it all grow. At least I think I do. There are pestles popping out of every bud zone, it started about a week ago. I keep moving and spreading the branches and bud zones, filling more each day.

The flowering nutes were introduced about a week ago and I have seen at least 2-4 inches of growth all over. Feed, feed and then water. It was every 4th day and now it's every other day. I feed 8 plants 4 gallons of RO water 2 to 3 times a week now.

It's not all just kicking back and watching it grow, not at all. It's work and you must study and be precise with your mixing, Don't feed very cold or hot water to your plants. Get a PH meter and check your liquid levels prior to and after each feeding. I try to keep the liquid PH level at or around 5.8 and my run off tests at 6.6-6.8 which is great. I bought my PH pen online for $12 bucks, you don't need anything better. I calibrate it with the 7.0 and 4.2 liquid about once a month. It rarely gets off by more than .1 or .2.

When I built and started the scrog net I did it all solo which was a hard task. I needed help but I get up early on weekends and get right to it. By the time any of my buddies get around to showing up I'm basically done. My wife had no interest in helping until last week, now she helps with almost every feeding. It's a lot of work and if your a lazy person then you could be wasting your time trying to grow for yourself.

By trial and error I have learned so much these last few months. I have the best part yet to do and can't wait for it all to blow up. I will be a Lord of Herb.

I always have questions about what I'm doing and ideas I have to improve what I have going on. I don't have any grower friends yet or people with more knowledge than me that I can get quick answers from on a daily basis, just ghetto growers that want to use my ideas. Sure they each have more than 5 grows under their belts but none have actually studied.

This last weekend I cleared most of the shoots under the scrog that wouldn't reach the light in the next week and made some clones. I figure I'll do 2 harvests in a row then take a break for 3 months during the summer. I already know that I'm changing the way I built my scrog net. I need access to all sides from under and above. I also needed to space them a little farther apart from one another. I'm doing 8 plants with a 4'6" X 4'6" net this time, next time will only be 6 plants. My veg growth was amazing and the root systems on each plant when I transplanted from 2 gallon to 5 gallon were great. Each plant was full of pearl white roots, and lots of them. No brown roots or foul smell. Just very healthy and ready for their new pots.

My ventilation system is where I've been having issues. During early veg I had a squirrel fan hooked up to the light hood sucking the hot air out with a 6" booster fan blowing cool air in from the other side of the room. I was only using 400 watts of MH bulb at the time and the temp stayed around 75. When I switched to 800 watts the room, of course, got hotter. I moved the squirrel fan to the other side of my 8 X 8 room and added a splitter to it so I could suck cool air in from outside of the room and have it split into 1-4 foot section of 6" duct line hooked straight to the air cooled hood and a 6 foot piece of 4" duct line blowing at ground level. I had the 6" booster fan about 5 feet away from the hood sucking the air out and through another 6 feet of duct.

I switch air cooled hoods just before flowering time. I had a 13" X 24" and changed to 26" X 26" when I switched to 1000 watts of HPS bulb. I moved the hood up to 24" away from the canopy. The room again got hotter. I added a 6" booster fan to the 4 foot section of duct coming from the squirrel fan to the hood. I'm not sure if it's needed where I have it or not.

Here's a recap of my fan set up. I have the big squirrel fan sucking cool air in and being split into a 6 foot section of 4" duct blowing at ground level and a 2 foot section of 6" duct hooked to a 6" booster fan that is then hooked to a 18" section of 6" duct and connected to the hood in a perfectly straight line, no bends in the duct. I'm not sure if the booster fan is in the right spot or not but the temp is maintaining at or below 82 degrees. I have a 8-10 foot section of duct coming from the other end of the hood but only 2 feet of it is in the room. It's hooked to a coal filter. Inside the room I have 3 big box fans at different angles, 1-4 foot OSC fan blowing mainly over the top of the sea of green, 1-2 foot OSC fan on the opposite side of the room sitting on the corner of the nets frame blowing over top and an 8" OSC fan under the net. The temp fluctuates from 77 to 82 which I think is fine. The humidity goes from the upper 60's to the mid 50's.