Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?

[TheOneWill]

What I was planning to do is a grow like DrBudGreengenes
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=69713
But not scrog. Just veg the plant for 1 month(Do you think 1 month is long enough veg for a plant to start flowering?). Then flower for 3 months (9 weeks). But each week start 3-4 plants. So I can harvest every week.

What I was planning on doing is either getting a 150watt hps or like 2 150watt cfls.
Here is what I'm gonna be using.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=70007
But I'm gonna customize it for this grow.

 

[HempKat]

What I was planning to do is a grow like DrBudGreengenes
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=69713
But not scrog. Just veg the plant for 1 month(Do you think 1 month is long enough veg for a plant to start flowering?). Then flower for 3 months (9 weeks). But each week start 3-4 plants. So I can harvest every week.

What I was planning on doing is either getting a 150watt hps or like 2 150watt cfls.
Here is what I'm gonna be using.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=70007
But I'm gonna customize it for this grow.

Well given the growth DrBudGreengenes is getting I'd have to say the CFLs is the better option. Although it makes a bit more sense since it's several CFL's. At first I thought you meant one 200W CFL. I would think it would be better though if you had some CFL's lower, towards the bottom of the plants for more uniform bud developement. DrBudGreengenes probably can't afford to do that because of the energy restrictions he has to deal with.

 

[TheOneWill]

See the problem with using multiple cfls like I got now is. That it gets very hot and is very hard to cool off. I was thinking of getting some higher watt of cfls so I can put them in a cool tube.

 

[SuperLarry]

i moved the plants in closer to the light and put what i think are the two males out to the side. we put in a 6" vortex intake straight from under the building (outside) so its def getting fresh CO2 now. i also have a dimmer with both fans plugged in, they are the 450CFM vortex's. i figure my room is around 130CF (4x4x8). so i put the dimmer on 5 to slow them down and hopefully get it hotter. im considering running my lights during the hotter part of the day as well. last night with the fans on full blast the low temp was 62 and the high 70. right now its running 66 with the dimmer on both fans and the outside temp 51. im wondering if right now i run 6pm to 12pm ON, i can just switch to 12pm to 6am ON for VEG. equally so i've always wondered when running 18/6 if when you flower your flower ON time can be when your 6 OFF was.

 

[HempKat]

See the problem with using multiple cfls like I got now is. That it gets very hot and is very hard to cool off. I was thinking of getting some higher watt of cfls so I can put them in a cool tube.

Okay well I can see that but two things, one having just one light means the greatest point of intensity and therefore the greatest point of growth is in one spot so right beneath that light you'll be fine but you'll have problems on the edges where the PAR output (PAR is the rating for how plants see light) is weakest. If you can spread the light around it'll be more uniform. The other thing is Watts or wattage is a measure of power consumption but energy never goes away it changes form, when generating light energy turns to heat radiating from the light. A HID 150W HPS will heat up your space more then the 200W cfl and I'm betting it gives of more PAR then the 200W cfl even though it's a lower wattage.

If you want to go with a single light source ultimately the 150W HPS would likely be better because the PAR energy will likely reach farther. The 200W cfl will almost definately be hotter then say one 48W cfl and I'm not so sure that it won't be hotter then 4 x 48W cfl's but of course as you say you can cool tube it, but still I think that set up would work best just growing one single plant below it. Because of how the light would be weak at the edges.

If you want to grow multiple plants then I think it would be better to firgure a way to cool four seperate lights. CFLs don't get THAT hot I bet you could fairly easily rig up a way to cool tube two or more of those small cfl's in one tube. The hard part would be finding a place where you could get a good enough sized clear plastic tube that you could attach your fan and any necessary ducting to.

I did notice something said in DrBudGreengenes thread you linked here. Someone mentioned how there have been recent improvements to cfl technology that make them better then the cfl's from a few years ago. My experience and the opinions I've expressed on cfl performance is based on the older cfl's. I've not used any cfl's in recent years. So to really be sure, you need to compare the ratings of the cfl and the HPS. I doubt you'll find PAR ratings, very few companies give that. So you'll have to go by lumens which is how humans percieve light energy. Which everyone has the higher lumen output whether it be the 200W cfl or the 150W HPS that is going to be your better choice for a single light source and it will also likely be the hottest choice.

 

[HempKat]

i moved the plants in closer to the light and put what i think are the two males out to the side. we put in a 6" vortex intake straight from under the building (outside) so its def getting fresh CO2 now. i also have a dimmer with both fans plugged in, they are the 450CFM vortex's. i figure my room is around 130CF (4x4x8). so i put the dimmer on 5 to slow them down and hopefully get it hotter. im considering running my lights during the hotter part of the day as well. last night with the fans on full blast the low temp was 62 and the high 70. right now its running 66 with the dimmer on both fans and the outside temp 51. im wondering if right now i run 6pm to 12pm ON, i can just switch to 12pm to 6am ON for VEG. equally so i've always wondered when running 18/6 if when you flower your flower ON time can be when your 6 OFF was.

You can make your times whatever you want to be except once you start a certain cycle it's best not to change it too dramatically. If you do though it's best in my opinion to just extend your lights on time until you get the start of your lights out time where you want it to be. The reason being, plants don't sense time and get triggered into anything by changes in the light period, they sense time and are triggered into flower by sensing changes in the dark period. So if say you've been running 18/6 for veg and you want your lights out time to start 6 hours later then lights out in veg, that one day you just leave the lights on for the extra 6 hours, the plant will see it as one day where it happened to get more growth. You could also make such a switch in flower if you had to, it would be beter to have one day to the plant that was 18 hours on and 12 hous off then to do anything that shortened the lights off time. Like I said though best not to interupt a cycle once it's started. Plants like consistancy. Now to change from 18/6 to 12/12 if you want to have the lights out time stay the same is easy as pie. The day you go to 12/12 you wait for the timer to turn the light off and then you leave lights off where it's at and change the lights on to start 6 hours later then it was set at. That would be the start of your 12/12 or flower period, it's just starting with lights off.

Now as for having the lights on at the warmest part of the day means during lights out will bee the coldest part of the day which would likely be a worse problem. When growing in winter I always try to have lights out in the day time to keep them as warm as possible.

Now here's what I'm thinking your overall problem is. You have 130 cf and 2 450cfm fans or a total of 900cfm's. The maximum exchange rate suggested for cooling in a grow space is 5 room changes per minute. That doesn't take into account colder environments though. 5 room changes might be too much. To have a good exchange rate for just co2 you only need one room change every 5 minutes so if you were only worried about co2 then your space could theoretically get by with 130/5 = 26cfms. Now if you ventilate for cooling your space would need 130 x 5 = 650cfms but given the already cool conditions I'm guessing you could get by with just one 450cfm fan. I'm guessing you have two because you have one cooling the light and one venting the room. If so then you would need a T connecter in your duct work to connect the light exhaust and the room exhaust to the fan. Of course you still need the passive vent for fresh air preferably from another room rather then outside, to come into the room.

 

[SuperLarry]

im going to dimm the fans more. the reason i have two fans is because when i just had one exhausting thru the scrubber i dont think i was getting enough fresh air. so i added a fan to bring air directly from where i want the fresh air to come from. i was thinking that it was 1 exchange per minute for CO2 but every 5 minutes should be easy. i'm going to stay with my light cycle. im thinking about getting a switchable 1000k that would definitely warm it up. right now the temperatures are growable i think. prob averaging 65 with lights on and 62 with lights off. hopefully dimming the fans more will bring it up around 70. i even moved the ballast into the room the heat it up and we made sure all the panda film was sealed.

male right?

 

[Guest]

2 Questions please....

1. Tricotyleden? A bean just popped with three starter leaves. I'm well familiar with the lineage, but not seen this before. Is it common for this to be - a good thing? A runt? Only time will tell?

2. Bubblegum. Got 1 female just showed sex. Any specific advice on nutes for this strain, flower time, preferred lines to cross on - ie: indica or sativa dominant phenos?

This thread is awesome. I'll join you old farts in another few years I love teaching, and help several new growers in my town. But my growing styles are insane wouldn't want to confuse the new folks here so I'll keep learning off the organic fanatics till I'm happy to teach soil as well.

Thanks in advance

BongSong.

 

[TheOneWill]

Thanks hempkat.

 

[donatello22]

Germination to Hydroton Pots

Germination to Hydroton Pots

Hi I have a question about going from seed into my hydro setup.

I am using 6" pots with hydroton...never done hydro before but see my gallery for the pic of the setup...pretty straightforward.

Anyways...I have germed my seeds using the paper towel method but now I am at a bit of a loss what to do next...and out of time to prepare!!!!

Can I pop the seeds with tap roots straight into my setup and start flooding a few times a day...or is there a step I am missing?

TIY

 

[HempKat]

im going to dimm the fans more. the reason i have two fans is because when i just had one exhausting thru the scrubber i dont think i was getting enough fresh air. so i added a fan to bring air directly from where i want the fresh air to come from. i was thinking that it was 1 exchange per minute for CO2 but every 5 minutes should be easy. i'm going to stay with my light cycle. im thinking about getting a switchable 1000k that would definitely warm it up. right now the temperatures are growable i think. prob averaging 65 with lights on and 62 with lights off. hopefully dimming the fans more will bring it up around 70. i even moved the ballast into the room the heat it up and we made sure all the panda film was sealed.

male right?

I don't see anything there that looks definitively male. In fact on that one node closest to the right side of the picture it looks like a couple of pistils but it's hard to tell. Often times new growth can come in so thin and slender it looks like hairs when it's actually new leaves.

Yeah a 1000W should heat things up. I use 1000W and one 1000W heats up two rooms that make up a 14' x 15' building to 75 degrees F even when it's in the teens outside.

 

[piffffalici0us]

I think it may be hermie, the bottom nodes look like the begining of pollen balls forming
However, the top nodes look like it may be female?

Me personally, I would leave it in for atleast another week, just to be sure. They wont pollinate the others unless the pollen balls are open, that wont happen for a while. Justr be careful not to move it around, or blow air directly on it when the balls get bigger.
I had a whole hermie harvest (first grow with seeds from local dirt weed) I just inspected my buds, internodes and the entire plant daily and plucked the balls off as they grew.
Now the outcome, I made off with 2-3 oz's per plant(dried), some ok smoke (not the greatest, but definetly not dirt) with minimal seeds (like 2-3 per oz).






I have a question for hempkat. It has been a long time since ive done this, and i forgot.

Now I know that it greatly varies from strain to strain, but I cant find a clear answer:
How long does the vegetive stage last before I start seeing preflowers?
Given optimal conditions, and good feeding. on a basic indica/sativa blended strain?
What is the timeframe?
Thanks.

 

[HempKat]

2 Questions please....

1. Tricotyleden? A bean just popped with three starter leaves. I'm well familiar with the lineage, but not seen this before. Is it common for this to be - a good thing? A runt? Only time will tell?

2. Bubblegum. Got 1 female just showed sex. Any specific advice on nutes for this strain, flower time, preferred lines to cross on - ie: indica or sativa dominant phenos?

This thread is awesome. I'll join you old farts in another few years I love teaching, and help several new growers in my town. But my growing styles are insane wouldn't want to confuse the new folks here so I'll keep learning off the organic fanatics till I'm happy to teach soil as well.

Thanks in advance

BongSong.

Well the Old Farts is mostly just me right now and I know practically nothing about hydro. So if that is your area of expertise I wouldn't mind your help on hydro issues even if you aren't an old fart :smile:

1) It's not uncommon and appears to be something that pops up in almost any strain from time to time. I've had some like that. Often they just grow out of that phase when they reach maturity. To the best of my observations there is no clear cut benefit or disadvantage to the plant being like this. It may yield slightly more since there ends up being extra budsites, branches and leaves but not so much so that it makes having a plant like this a big deal. It's kind of like, say you normally get 2 ounces out of a plant, maybe with one like this you might get 2.5 ounces.

2) Sorry I have not grown Bubblegum before so I know nothing about working with it. It is a popular strain though so you should be able to find info on this site about it if you use the search feature.

 

[HempKat]

Thanks hempkat.

No problem, although I don't know if I was much help. :smile:

 

[HempKat]

Hi I have a question about going from seed into my hydro setup.

I am using 6" pots with hydroton...never done hydro before but see my gallery for the pic of the setup...pretty straightforward.

Anyways...I have germed my seeds using the paper towel method but now I am at a bit of a loss what to do next...and out of time to prepare!!!!

Can I pop the seeds with tap roots straight into my setup and start flooding a few times a day...or is there a step I am missing?

TIY

To be honest I'm not sure, my guess is yes you would just treat the hydroton as your medium and put it in there and treat like any other plant.

 

[HempKat]

I think it may be hermie, the bottom nodes look like the begining of pollen balls forming
However, the top nodes look like it may be female?

Me personally, I would leave it in for atleast another week, just to be sure. They wont pollinate the others unless the pollen balls are open, that wont happen for a while. Justr be careful not to move it around, or blow air directly on it when the balls get bigger.
I had a whole hermie harvest (first grow with seeds from local dirt weed) I just inspected my buds, internodes and the entire plant daily and plucked the balls off as they grew.
Now the outcome, I made off with 2-3 oz's per plant(dried), some ok smoke (not the greatest, but definetly not dirt) with minimal seeds (like 2-3 per oz).






I have a question for hempkat. It has been a long time since ive done this, and i forgot.

Now I know that it greatly varies from strain to strain, but I cant find a clear answer:
How long does the vegetive stage last before I start seeing preflowers?
Given optimal conditions, and good feeding. on a basic indica/sativa blended strain?
What is the timeframe?
Thanks.

Well you're right, it does very strain to strain, on average I usually see pre-flowers at about 6 weeks. On occasion I've seen them at five weeks and on occasion I've gone 10 weeks and still had to put it in 12/12 to get pre-flowers. All in all I'd say 80% - 90% of the time they show between week 6 and week 8.

 

[piffffalici0us]

HempKat, Thank you so much for your quick response.
Thats what I thought, thanks for confirming with me.

K+

 

[Guest]

Thanks my man. The search feature turned up many 60 plus page threads with bubblegum in them somewhere... Then my mate showed up with bubblegum experience so I'm good to go.

YES! - Plant the sprouted seed straight in your hydroton. Go very light on the nutes with a seedling and start the system up.

I'm an Aquaponic man and so know nothing on nutes etc for hydro. I never test anything much just pH and GH when I'm experimenting with it. I do read a lot though so if I can help or point to help I will. Thanks for the invite to help.

 

[Theicedjoker]

i have a cloneing ? can i root a clone with 12/12 light i dont have a veg box so i need to trim down one of my plants i just want to take a cople of branches off and keep them going still. can i root clons under 12/12????????

thank you to all the gray beards out there helping us all out

 

[Guest]

i have a cloneing ? can i root a clone with 12/12 light i dont have a veg box so i need to trim down one of my plants i just want to take a cople of branches off and keep them going still. can i root clons under 12/12????????

thank you to all the gray beards out there helping us all out

Hey! - I shave so the grey is not apparent

Rooting a clone in 12/12 can be done but is more a matter of luck/timing than method or skill.

A cheap light from a department store (think lamp and add a flouro bulb) should set you back no more than $20 for bulb and lamp. Clones have no problem taking under flouros and there's no heat issues. You can have clones 12" and more away from the bulb it still works fine.

ps - if you have daylight hours good for cloning (more than 14 I think) clones will root quite happily underneath a white plastic shopping bag cover. Don't let their container get too hot, shade is fine if it's sunny (bright). You can hide clones easy when the top is not see through.