Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?
- Thread starter HempKat
- Start date
I hear you, sounds like your real issue is money and location. I mean I'm sure your problem could be solved simply by buying a chiller device to run in your res but maybe you are concerned about the electric usage? Which is fine, it's smart that you watch that although a chiller shouldn't be enough to draw attention so it must be the cost of the chiller? So then is there maybe a way to tweak things like a bigger space to dissipate the heat out to, to lower temps? Maybe you don't have that kind of space though?
To be honest I'm just throwing out ideas, I'm a soil guy, always have been and probably always will be although I could see me maybe getting into some sort of flood and drain set up. Point being that I have no experience and therefore can't offer much in the way of solutions. You already mention what I would suggest for low tech (the 2 liter bottles of ice). If that worked before I don't see why it can't again? You know your situation best though so I presume there's an unmentioned detail that explains why that won't work.
My situation is the same though in soil, just no pumps or any hydro related things. I have a 1000W and several T-8's I run for clones and such a dehumidifier and fans for ventilation and circulation. With that I could in theory grow enough in one grow to hold me for a year and since I grow just for myself I've adapted to not growing from say May thru Sept, other then keeping mothers alive under fluoros. This allows me to take advantage of the coolness of outside temps typicals at that time. I can run in the summer with a window AC unit but that makes my electric bill unbareable. Now I realize that some people do grow for more then just themselves. If you notice though Oct - April is plenty of time to get more then one grow in, especially with clones ready to go at the start. With the right strains and timing that's 3 harvests. If 3 harvests is not enough to hold someone that sells then they should be making enough cash to go out and buy and run a good res chiller without worrying.
Well, there's no real tricks to discretion just commonsense and a bit of luck. PErsonally when I grew outdoors I either had the luxury of access to a large area of undeveloped land (pretty much a small mountain) that was private property owned by a friend. Plus back then the cops didn't care the way they do now. So I never had security to worry about there other then to not grow the plants blatantly in the middle of an open field and risk being spotted from above. When I lost access to that land I just made it a point to find a place where it was relatively safe, even if it was a long drive/hike to get there. Then age caught up with me and health issues and outdoor was no longer an option.
Anyway, you want to make sure the plant gets as much direct sun as possible so you ideally want to find an area on the edge of an open field where the plants there are around the same size but not bigger then what your plants will be. For that though you need to find an isolated spot where nobody else is likely to go. Sometimes you can find small areas of land that dip down in populated areas, but all the traffic goes around it and growth along it's edges hide it, such that nobody see's it. In that situation you can plant more openly but there's still a risk because if you can find a spot so can someone else.
One outdoor spot that's always has been good for me is to go out along train tracks going out of town and into more rural areas. You might have to go a good ways to find the seclusion you want but for the most part once you get past city limits you don't have to worry much about people other then the street people and they tend to stick close to civilization or at least a beer and wine store
.Usually along the train track there's a fair margin of land that extends on either side of the tracks that is technically railroad property but more or less is vacant land. Ideally I would want to find a place along the tracks going into the country, where a creek or stream either runs alongside it or passes under it. Then I'd find a spot where it got good sun and along the edge of the creek or stream. That way it would be fairly safe, get good light and I shouldn't have to worry about running out there with water.
obscuredbycloud
Member
Well I guess my woes could be resolved with confidence in a product like a chiller. I could buy one easy enough, however I am not confident that it will lower my temps enough. I don't mind spending the money if it's going to work.
So have you heard that the chillers, aquarium ones I believe, that will get the res temps low enough from other experienced growers? Or do people buy em, find out they don't chill enough and move on to another solution?
I have time before my next run to figure it out. Right now I am focusing on my mothers, from seeds, in soil which is something I have never done.
Oh I grow for myself that is why I am really trying dial in my system I am very picky on the bud I smoke and it's all about quality not quantity.
Do you have some post on how you keep your mothers? The only teck I have seen that I am going to try for is the Bonsai mothers, short and bushy. Which seems easy enough, however I am worried about keeping her healthy for years to come.
RippinDoobz
New member
Thanks HempKat. The places I have in mind are all along the edges of a few fields. A couple are in tree lines. But there's one that in the middle of a lot of pine trees. There's an open space in the middle where they should be able to get 3-5 hours of direct sunlight per day, I'm estimating. You have to dig your way through 10-15 rows of trees before you can get to it, it's rough passage, lol. So, with the pine tree plot, I was wondering if there would be anything special I would have to do, since I've heard the soil can be too acidic for cannabis.
No unfortunately since I don't do hydro at this point I've never had a need to look into it. I did look one up online at a hydro store but the price was so high (over $400US) that I didn't want to suggest it without knowing your ability and or willingness to spend that much on a chiller. Here's the link if you want to check it out. All I can say is if it costs that much it better be able to chill at least to the temp you're shooting for.
http://www.altgarden.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=1025
As for mothers, I don't have a particular technique other then I try to keep growth slow by using just tube fluoros, low doses of ferts and allowing temps to average in the low 70's. I also don't rush to up pot them. Basically I'm looking to keep them small for a month or two maybe top them a few times to encourage branching and then when I take clones, I take as many as I can and one of those will become the new mom. The old mom I typically just kill because she's so bare after I take the clones. On some occasions though, if I have the room in my flowering area, I'll leave enough on the mother so I can flower her out.
Well for that spot alot would depend on where the needles and pinecones from the trees fell. If that area is covered with it you'll have to do something. You could test the soil and then add things like dolomite lime to raise the ph. Another easy way to do it, except for the hassle of getting what you need to do this to a remote location, is to dig a hole and fill it with your own soil mix or just sink a plant in a big bucket (with drainage holes) full of your own soil mix, right into the ground. I'm not sure it'll be worth it though 3-5 hours of direct sun isn't very much
obscuredbycloud
Member
Cool cool thanks for the link bro I appreciate it.
Interesting. You don't keep the original mom. I assume veg time for the new mom is faster then the one old will recover? I only need 24 babies every cycle. I don't have control over my temps like you do, we need central air!
Wilson!
Member
High Old Farts,
You may have heard of the Crepitation Contest?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSP9irkTM_s
pt.2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkYRAUptkFw&feature=related
It brought me to tears lol after all these years.
My q is I just harvested a Rom cross that was the oilies sweatiest bitch I have every seen. It was drenched top to bottom.
It's a wet girl and I have her drying in 45%rh. I separated the buds ass much as I could without snapping them and broke the plant into 8 inch lengths.
Ever see anything like this? I'm concerned with mold with it so wet. But the smell is perfect and opening the buds I see no mold discoloration.
Is this normal?
thx.
You may have heard of the Crepitation Contest?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSP9irkTM_s
pt.2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkYRAUptkFw&feature=related
It brought me to tears lol after all these years.
My q is I just harvested a Rom cross that was the oilies sweatiest bitch I have every seen. It was drenched top to bottom.
It's a wet girl and I have her drying in 45%rh. I separated the buds ass much as I could without snapping them and broke the plant into 8 inch lengths.
Ever see anything like this? I'm concerned with mold with it so wet. But the smell is perfect and opening the buds I see no mold discoloration.
Is this normal?
thx.
D
draco
reduce light in final weeks?
reduce light in final weeks?
i can't seem to find anything now, but i read somewhere that the plant does better in late flower if the light is not quite so intense.
I have adjustable ballasts and can do it with a flip of a switch... how about it?
thanks in advance!
dog bless this thread!
reduce light in final weeks?
i can't seem to find anything now, but i read somewhere that the plant does better in late flower if the light is not quite so intense.
I have adjustable ballasts and can do it with a flip of a switch... how about it?
thanks in advance!
dog bless this thread!
Central air might not be as nice as it sounds. If you set it somehow that the temp of the room triggers when the AC comes on, the rest of the house will be like an ice cube. Conversely if you let another more normal temp room trigger the thermostat then it probably won't cool the flower room enough to do much good.
The way I handle moms has more to do with space then veg or recovery times. I don't keep the moms because in my mind there is no real reason to. I know you hear people talk about generations of clones and maybe the clone loses something if you clone it too many times. I don't buy that. That's more along the lines of science fiction cloning where whole bodies are built from a few cells. What we growers call cloning is no different then cutting a worm in half and both halves heal into two seperate worms. You didn't really create new life, you allowed a single life to now exist in two seperate places. All the clones that come from a mother plant are really just that same plant being able to exist in multiple unconnected locations, each with the exact same gentic make up as the original mother plant.
It can be, I haven't grown any Romulan crosses let alone the one you have so I couldn't say for sure. Definately some strains get more resinous and oily then others and if not handled properly could potentially develop mold. It sounds like you're doing okay so far, the real risk is onced they're "dried" and jarred up for the curing process. That's when mold is most likely to develop in my opinion. As long as you got air circulating around the buds while they dry and the buds aren't hanging so close together that they're touching then mold shouldn't form. If fully dried, once jarred mold shouldn't form as long as you let the jars "breath" like you're supposed to when curing.
I've never heard of that but there is a bit of logic to it if you reason it out in contrast to nature. In nature as you near harvest the earth is moving from summer to fall and is therefore moving away from the sun so light has to travel a bit further and loses some of it's intensity. So certainly it stands to reason that plants have adapted to this. Now if you think about it, as a plant approaches harvest it's generally starting to change color and leaves are starting to die off. It would stand to reason that since these leaves are not 100% that the plant might do better with a light that isn't working those leaves so hard.
It's certainly worth a try although I would never recommend experimenting on a crop one is very dependent on. If you have a crop though where it's no big deal if it doesn't yield quite as much, then yeah I'd try it. Anything that can benefit your plants and cut your electric usage is a good thing. If you do try it out I'd love to hear your conclusions.
D
draco
thanks HK... i can't remember where i read it, but in context it made some kind of sense at the time.
good on ya for what you do here.
good on ya for what you do here.
obscuredbycloud
Member
On the AC you are correct, however I would rather have that problem then the one I have now! :lol:
Great info. With the little that I am aware of, I can not say anything that your wrong in any meaningful way. Though through the exposure of evolution (atheist/theist) debates I have been been part of dose not give me reasons to pause at what you are saying.
As with veging with 24hr lighting. Of course I could assume this is dependent on strain and such. But from what I experienced growth is faster and and the roots are more vigorous. And I have not seen anything to say otherwise.
Though I have not experimented with veging in an aero system under 1k watts with a different lighting regiment vs something else. So my observations could be totally off.
But I am willing to learn as I go!
There is evidence that the plant may actually use some of the dark period for root development and other things, and that a total shut out of dark may not be optimum.
There has been a person here who took a fairly close look at this issue, and their conclusion was clear that a 20/4 light schedule produced larger plants than 18/6 or 24/0.
*EDIT
I remember the results being from weighing final bud yield.
There has been a person here who took a fairly close look at this issue, and their conclusion was clear that a 20/4 light schedule produced larger plants than 18/6 or 24/0.
*EDIT
I remember the results being from weighing final bud yield.
Last edited:
Well I've vegged both at 18/6 and 24/0. Used the same strains, same pots, same soil, same ferts, etc. In both cases the plants were vegged 60 days and achieved heights in excess of 5 feet (which is really too tall for my indoor setup, and therefore not a desireable goal). The plants that vegged for 18.6 on average were only 3 to 4 inches shorter then the 24/0 plants, however my electric bill was about $20 - $30 lower in the months I vegged for 18/6. I can't prove one was healthier then the other but visually speaking the 18/6 plants were healthier looking (darker greens, fuller denser growth). At harvest the 18/6 plants did slightly better then the 24/0 plants which suggest the root system on the 18/6 plants were better.
The only noteable advantage the 24/0 plant had was that it broke 5' sooner then the 18/6 plants, so it did grow slightly faster but the difference was only by a few days. Also the plants vegged 24/0, when put to flower, took almost a week longer to start developing buds, then the plants vegged 18/6. The conclusion I came to, based on my first hand experiences was that 24/0 is not a practical way to veg. It costs more, isn't significantly more beneficial and may in fact be less healthy for the plant.
Now add to that, that nothing in nature has evolved to take advantage of 24/0 light and that all living things benefit from a regular period of rest and that there are specific functions the plant performs in it's dark period that it can't do as efficiently in a constant light period. All that combined tells me 24/0 is a waste of money and time.
obscuredbycloud
Member
Probably is.
OK, I have a real world questions about my babies. Some of the leafs are curling. I am thinking this is a PH issue. No nuts or anything. It seems I did not PH balance the jug of tap water. Or I am not sure.
question about purple strains
question about purple strains
Hello all, first time ever posting, have read for awhile and just harvested second ever grow, thanks to all of you here. I'm growing to help a friend with cancer and a card.
Since this thread is 'ask a question'... I'd really like some input from the experienced folks here on timing the harvest, particularly input on what I just cut.
I've read alot, and covered the parts about watching trichs for targeting the harvest. My first grow was a locally obtained diesel that turned out fine. This run was clones of that, and some unknown bagseed. This is the one I'd like some input on...
Seeds given to me, the description was "im not sure what they came from, there were just a few of them in a bag from a dispensary, don't remember the strain".
Vegged very nicely for 7 weeks, then flowered a bit over 8. Grown in FF happy frog with extra perlite, Jacks Classic ferts and a bit of molassas. Ph'ed tap water. T-5's and cfl's for veg, 400 HPS for flower in a stealth cab. I Kept my eyes on the trich's nearly daily, waiting and waiting for the majority to turn cloudy with some ambers. Within one week, the trich's went from 90% clear to 90% cloudy, hardly an amber to be found. But....
In that week, the tops went from a pretty healthy looking green, to the color you see in the photo. That one is the purple-ist... but most of the tops had at least a little. What surprised me is that it seemed like all of a sudden, the plants were dying. Fan leaves browning, flowers turning purple, tips all over turning, etc. It's a bit hard to describe but when I looked at them, you could "just tell" they were dying, like a maple tree starts turning brown and dropping leaves rapidly at that certain time in the fall.
I've read where purple may be encouraged by low temps, however there haven't been any below 60. The light is on at night, and the temps read from 70 to 80 when i've checked it.
Whats the take on this from experience? Normal for 'purple strains'? Nute problem? Anything else?
FWIW, the harvest looks nice, lots of frosty mids but some decent tops.
Thanks in advance for any input.
question about purple strains
Hello all, first time ever posting, have read for awhile and just harvested second ever grow, thanks to all of you here. I'm growing to help a friend with cancer and a card.
Since this thread is 'ask a question'... I'd really like some input from the experienced folks here on timing the harvest, particularly input on what I just cut.
I've read alot, and covered the parts about watching trichs for targeting the harvest. My first grow was a locally obtained diesel that turned out fine. This run was clones of that, and some unknown bagseed. This is the one I'd like some input on...
Seeds given to me, the description was "im not sure what they came from, there were just a few of them in a bag from a dispensary, don't remember the strain".
Vegged very nicely for 7 weeks, then flowered a bit over 8. Grown in FF happy frog with extra perlite, Jacks Classic ferts and a bit of molassas. Ph'ed tap water. T-5's and cfl's for veg, 400 HPS for flower in a stealth cab. I Kept my eyes on the trich's nearly daily, waiting and waiting for the majority to turn cloudy with some ambers. Within one week, the trich's went from 90% clear to 90% cloudy, hardly an amber to be found. But....
In that week, the tops went from a pretty healthy looking green, to the color you see in the photo. That one is the purple-ist... but most of the tops had at least a little. What surprised me is that it seemed like all of a sudden, the plants were dying. Fan leaves browning, flowers turning purple, tips all over turning, etc. It's a bit hard to describe but when I looked at them, you could "just tell" they were dying, like a maple tree starts turning brown and dropping leaves rapidly at that certain time in the fall.
I've read where purple may be encouraged by low temps, however there haven't been any below 60. The light is on at night, and the temps read from 70 to 80 when i've checked it.
Whats the take on this from experience? Normal for 'purple strains'? Nute problem? Anything else?
FWIW, the harvest looks nice, lots of frosty mids but some decent tops.
Thanks in advance for any input.
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