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My 3×3 Grow and Grow Style
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My 3×3 Grow and Grow Style
Howdy, here is my current grow and grow style:
Current Run (fem seeds):
1) Blimburn Slurricane
2) Sensi Purple Kush
3) Humboldt Seed Co OG Kush
4) Dutch Passion Blueberry
5) Master Breeders Association London Cheese
6) Greenhouse Seed Co (GHS) White WidowPrevious Run (fem seeds):
1) North Atlantic Seed Co White Label Northern Lights
2) Royal Queen Seeds Northern Lights
3) GHS White Rhino
4) GHS White Rhino again
5) Sensi Afghani #1
6) Blimburn Granddaddy PurpleMy goal is basically a nostalgia tour. Forget the new strains that test high, I want to revisit the strains of my youth and young adulthood. I don’t really care about yield.
I grow 6 plants each run on ACI autopots in a 3×3 ACI tent under an Evo4 LED light. 6 pots will fit in a staggered pattern if they’re on 1″ risers. I control humidity and temperature with an ACI humidifier, a room-appropriate dehumidifier, a space heater and a portable AC unit. I use the Controller 69 which is fantastic but not a dealbreaker.
I start seeds in Solo cups with Happy Frog (HF) soil and transplant to 3 gallon fabric pots with Ocean Forest (OF) and some perlite. I add some mono-silicic acid and Recharge to the soil at the time of transplant. The OF mixture in 3gal pots gives me about a month of nutrients. The HF in Solos has next to no nutrients but doesn’t piss off seedlings.
I flip to flower when the plants are about 6″ tall after they’ve been transplanted to the 3gal pots and have had a few days to a week to stabilize. At the 3 week mark following transplant, I top dress 1TBSP of Gaia Green 4:4:4 and 2TBSP Gaia Green 2:8:4 per pot. After another 3 weeks I top dress again with 3TBSP of the 2:8:4 per pot. I run this all the way to harvest. I have occasionally top dressed another 1TBSP of 2:8:4 after 1-3 weeks when it looks like flowering might take longer than 8 weeks. I use a $20 amazon USB-C microscope to determine trichome maturity/doneness.
Epsom salts are on hand in case a Magnesium deficiency pops up, and I have blackstrap molasses on hand as well. Generally, Recharge has enough Cal/Mag and other micronutrients that I don’t have to mess with it. My tap water is about pH 8.5 so I use a pH Down product to bring it within the 5.8 to 6.8 range. I’ve used several products, not sure that any work better than the others. Also not sure if this is necessary while using Recharge but why not.
I go back to an 18/6 light schedule for the final 7-10 days of flower per Rasta Jeff’s suggestion. It works well for me. I have some Winter Frost on hand for this run but have never used it in the past and have instead dropped temps at significant electric bill cost. But damn, the cure has been incredible. I used to use Mason jars but now use Grove Bags. 10/10, will never jar again.
Last harvest was about 11oz from 6 plants (from seed in 3 months), so just shy of 2oz per strain. A pretty perfect sampling size for what I’m going for. I use Actinovate as integrated pest management (IPM) for, primarily, Powdery Mildew prevention, and I have had success with this. I use mosquito dunk bits for fungus gnat prevention which also works well.
The tent can become crowded so I top each plant at least once and run 2 oscillating fans for airflow in addition to the exhaust fan. I generally top above the 3rd node and allow the lower node to catch up for a total of 4 tops per plant. This keeps height manageable and yield reasonable. I rotate each pot a quarter turn per day.
I run feminized seeds almost exclusively and am just starting a perpetual/conveyor belt grow setup to increase efficiency. I’ve run clones but that has been the worst pest source in my experience so I went back to seeds.
A 4×4 or even 5×5 might make more sense, especially if you read reddit. A 3×3 works great for what I’m going for and I have had minimal issues with mold or other headaches common to crowded growing spaces. I really love this approach and hope it helped at least 1 person. Cheers and happy growing.
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3 Replies
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Use captain jacks neem oil for fungus gnats. Use lost coast plant therapy for thrips. This combination of ipm products will keep you pretty good. It works for me. When I started cloning I would have a lot of gnats if I got a bag of fox farm. I never used cubes to clone just straight from clonex dip to soil and keep moist. In a few days has been the quickest I’ve gotten roots. Other than the introduction of new media to your tent I don’t know how it would bring pests. Hopefully this will help if you want to clone. It’s worth it for the price of seeds compared to a bottle of clone gel. Also you can keep genetics you like around indefinitely.
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That was a very good and detailed rundown of your setup, thanks for sharing. 6 plants in a 3×3 is a tight fit for sure but it sounds like you have it down to a science..
👍
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I have two 3×3, a closet for clones and seeds, I like your your style!
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