Single 8 Miles High on 1x45W CFL - AutoSCROG

[fonzee]

I've had another post on the Mandala Seeds forum, but I'm moving here.
Here's the previous topic:
http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=3393361#post3393361

Here's what people had to say about my grow so far:

Sounds to me like a terrible waste of good seeds

your whole setup is inadequate

So I guess I'm off to a good start !

This is the stats for now:

Strain - Mandala Seeds 8 Mile High - from seed.
Planted on the 18/3/2010.
Pot size - 10L, I think.
Growing medium - 20cups Dishnit premixed soil (local brand), 2.5 cups worm castings, 2L Coco\Perlite, 5 cups garden waste compost.
Light - 1x45W coolwhite CFL for veg and 1x42\45W warm white CFL for flowering.
Temps - currently around 20-24°C while its ~30°C outside, should rise quite a bit in the next few months.
Humidity - 45-65% RH.
Cooling - Cooltube for the CFL, 80cfm vent, passive intake. A carbon scrubber should be added soon.
Training method - Letting the plant grow on the cooltube itself - AutoSCROG.
Fertilizers - GHE One Part Total Grow have been used for a bit, some fermented urine and a few drops of other fertilizers but after moving to organics in the last transplant I don't plan on feeding it for a while. If I choose to feed it I have most of the Hesi lineup for coco, the bloom and bloom enhancing formulas for soil, most of the BioBizz line up and quite a few other bottles.
Watering - dechlorinate tap water for now. Hand watering as long as I can but there's some equipment for automated watering if needed.
Tap water stats - 7.6-8.3 PH, around 320ppm.
Chamber dimensions - H88.2cm, W56cm, D35.5cm. Most of it ain't going to be used.
Talking:

The goal in this grow is to grow decent buds when its over 40°C outside for 2 months. Anything over 10 grams would be a success.
Also, I'm testing whatever method I could think of trying - moving to organics, autoscrog, running this new strain, grafting (great failure) and growing with a single 45\42W all the way.
I have 5 complete grows under my belt, 3 of them I call proper.
I would probably try pretty much everything on that poor plant because I don't expect too many buds and this strain is FREAKING VIGOROUS!


Well, if anyone have questions - be my guest. Feel free to join the ride

 

[fonzee]

Pictures. I know the glass needs some cleaning, I'm going to do a makeover on that closet soon - I'll clean it up then.

 

[fonzee]

Got some pictures today.
The plant is more than ready to be flowered but I don't have a veg place for my mothers yet and I've been lazy.
Been thinking a moment ago that I was very unmotivated to do stuff the last 2 weeks after working my ass off for 2 weeks straight. (pretty much from sunrise to sunrise)

Thinking about it, if I'll keep doing nothing it won't get better. So I'll build a small mothers place now


I'm thinking about topping down the plant to let it have some space to stretch, but I never grew in a method other than top lightning so I'll probably look for advice in the vertical forum.
Meanwhile, if anyone have any idea, please share with me

 

[Sayan]

Your plant looks good.

Are you sure to use a single 45W for flowering ?

Can't you use a 150 Hps ?

++

 

[fonzee]

I'm 100% sure about using a 45W warm white CFL for flowering.

I don't have any intention to get any bigger.

1. there's no 150 hps around here, only 250 which is way too big.
2. I'm going with small wattage to help with heat problems. When its 45°C outside I don't see a way to keep the plant happy while firing a 150W HPS.
3. I'm not going to spend my money on another HPS rig. I have one already and need to get a 600W for next winter. another 150\250w doesn't seem wise at the moment.
4. Its an experiment. I want to see how much I can yield from a single 45W CFL, if any.


I never thought it would grow so well under such light conditions but if it is - who am I to stop it


I remember reading the Buds for Less by Seemore Buds (or something like that) when he uses a couple dozens of CFLs. Although he did grow some dank looking nugs I believe the main reason to use so many CFLs is to keep all of the plant with enough light.
On this run I want to see how effective would be taking the opposite approach - instead of getting the lights to the plant parts get the plant parts to the light.

I've heard of people getting more than 0.5GPW with CFLs. I challenge that number.

 

[fonzee]

Hugging the light

It seems to thrive in my "organic" mix.
By far the easiest grow to maintain I ever had. Just put water in a cup for a day, and use it on the other. And it really doesn't need much watering - its holds a LOT of water.

 

[basspirate]

Can't wait to see what you yield man. Lookin' good so far. Love low wattage CFL grows.

 

[twrex]

This is rad, I'm subscribed, can't wait to see how this goes.

 

[fonzee]

Can't wait to see what you yield man. Lookin' good so far. Love low wattage CFL grows.

This is rad, I'm subscribed, can't wait to see how this goes.

Thank you both for your positive karma spreading
Had a shitty day and some positive karma sure was needed...

 

[drpressure600]

. . nice lil'grow you got going mr fonzee, i'm on this . .

 

[fonzee]

The vent started getting annoying - cleaning and oiling it doesn't solve the noise issues.
Ripped it apart too much cleaning it for it to worth the trouble.

I'll be getting a new one in a day or two.

Meanwhile the plant is in the dark, for 2-5 days.
When it comes back it will be put on 12\12.

I had trouble getting the clone to flower, it took time for it to realize its flower time.
So a long dark period should make it quicker.

It should also try up well until then, but not wilt. Then I could give it a bit of molasses to boost things up.

I might get some humus tea going to boost it up, but that depends on my laziness.

 

[frankobud]

plants are looking good fonzee. that book by seemorebud wasthe first grow book i ever read and is what got me started. ihad like 5 lights and it grew bud just real loose. yours are looking alot better then mine did.oh yea thanks for input on the lightless vent
frankobud

 

[fonzee]

Hi franko
It was one of my first books as well. Very nice one, but I can't see how it becomes practical in a hot environment. All those lights he uses should put quite a bit of heat.
Around here a 45W CFL cost around 14 bucks. a 250MH\HPS system cost around 100 bucks.
I think the HID option is cheaper in the long run, and much better. At least around here.

But I did love his detailing - helps a lot to learn how the plant grows before your actually do it yourself.

 

[fonzee]

Got a new vent (120 USD for a 130cfm CATA vent) and just finished rigging the thing.
Changed to 45W CFL WARM WHITE. (2700Kelvin)
Lights will go on tomorrow morning and start the 12\12 cycle.

I need to finish the light\air proofing by covering the "floor" with panda poly and I want a panda door with velcro too.

The plant started wilting slowly and will get a feeding tomorrow.
I'm making a worm humus tea - mixing in a 1.5L bottle about 15cc of worm humus and 2-3 tiny drops of molasses. (and 1.5L of dechlorinated water)
I'm shaking it for 10 minutes on and off. I will shake it until when I feed tomorrow when I see it.

I haven't watered the clone I had for sex testing for over 2 weeks, although it wilted a bit - its still alive.
Its in a coco\perlite mix and bone dry for a week or so. NICE!

 

[fonzee]

Gave it 1.5L of "humus tea" or something like that.

Anyhow, I guess a picture would be nice after all those picture-less posts.



When I'll get some time I need to rig up a carbon filter. I built one once but wrecked it. Shouldn't be hard but that thing is MESSY.l

 

[fonzee]

I'm waiting for some superglue to dry, so I'll do the typing first, then add pictures.

I hate light leaks. I really do.
So I spent the (very hot) day light proofing.

My setup is pretty simple I guess - its a "Keter" closet (plastic closet sold in parts for self assembly) with 2 shelves in - one to be the "floor" of the grow chamber and another one below to create 2 spaces.
I got the air intake coming from the right side of the middle chamber to the duct in the left part of that chamber (that goes in the upper growing chamber). The duct is in a 90° angle and the inside is painted matte black.
The exhaust is through a vent and the tubing is taped with AC tape and fit snugly.

The walls and the ceiling are lined with Astrofoil (mylar-like thing that cost 15$ per meter, 60cm wide) and taped with AC tape together. There's a cut in each "wall" along the middle that is taped to the plastic wall to prevent the foil from bending inwards by the air pressure.

The closet doors are lined with weather stripping, around 95% of them have it.

Thats what I had until today. However, I had some minor light leaks that I think I fixed.

I put a piece of wood on the floor near the doors to prevent water leaks if happens.
I got the "floor" lined with panda poly and the intake that comes out of it lined with that panda taped tightly. Now I can put quite a lot of water in it with no spills.
I got a panda poly lined with velcro to form a second door. I think its pretty good on its own, but with the doors shut it should be 99.99% lightproof. Which is fine by me.

Fixed some of the weather stripping.

Also I put the timer to light up during the DAY for 2 reasons:
1. As I have loads of venting the light doesn't give enough heat to make the room warmer. The plant should have a warmer temp during lights on as I read.
2. Less light during the night.


Thats about it for now. I'll post some pictures soon.
Sounds lightproof enough?


I hope that this setup will do with only water and a bit of compost \ wormcastings amendment.

 

[fonzee]

From outside

Doors open (shaky as there wasn't enough light)

Second door open

Without the 8MH

 

[fonzee]

5th day of 12\12

5th day of 12\12

I'm having a major N deficiency.
Although it was tempting to open the BioBizz BioGrow bottle - I didn't.
Instead I've added ~1.5 cups or worm humus on top of the medium and gave it a liter of water that was needed.
I'll add ground coffee and maybe rice flour and alfalfa meal if I'll be able to find some.

I've also noticed the start of a tobacco fly infestation (I'm having it around for quite a while now) so I've sprayed the plant with a pretty strong garlic extract that fermented for a week and a half.
Also hung a yellow sticky trap.

I also got a few fungus gnats, but far from anything I worry about.


As mentioned before - this strain takes a while to kick into flowering.
White hairs are barely popping.
However, it should be pretty solid once it starts working.


Also I've decided to top it. Yes, its late but I don't like the way it goes.
I'll wait for the N deficiency to solve and then top if flowering won't kick in yet.



The plant doesn't seem so healthy anymore, and I guess its due to the long dark time it was in - probably stressed the crap out of it.
I just hope my mix was good enough for it to bounce back in a week or two.


The blacking leaves in the photos are some due to engine oil spill I had. Very stupid but happened.

 

[fonzee]

Fuck waiting.
Topped the crap out of it, removing around a half of it.
Ran another garlic spraying session and waiting for the leaves to dry a bit before entering my mj compost pile.

Temps got high - 29.4°C and their gonna get a lot higher. RH is around 50%.
I should add a PC fan soon for air circulation and to keep temps a bit lower.

Next update at the next watering. Should take about 4 days.

 

[fonzee]

Come on guys, you really thought this run won't have problems?!

Gave the plant 2L of water and the runoff came stained brown. I find it very odd.

The N. deficiency doesn't fix up.

I get a tobacco flies infestation that only gets worst.


However, flowering is starting


I have no clue what the stained runoff means. Might be root-rot?

I'll give the N. def. some more time. I've just added a top feed that SHOULD help.

I'm looking for a tobacco fly organic insecticide. My garlic spray doesn't seem to do much.