My Under The Stairs Cab

[Stonetech]

Well I figured out what my problem was with the lackluster buds, light intensity. I've been usin the same bulb for 3 flower cycles and the quality has been significantly declining each time. Somehow I never put 2 n 2 together.

Evidently the bulb I'm using, Plantmax, is best to be changed every cycle. Its a really good value at $24 but its intensity diminishes much more rapidly than a quality bulb such as a hortilux. Despite this I've replaced it with another Plantmax only this time I WILL remember to replace it every cycle. I figured its safer to replace a cheap bulb every time than to run multiple cycles because you want the most out of your $100 bulb. It would make for a more consistent product as well I spose.

Anyways, my dreams of a high yield of AAA bud are surely not goin to be realised this time round so I decided to chop early and get the next round goin ASAP. I didn't even bother keeping any of the popcorn, which there was alot of, only the biggest, most dense buds. It really was pitiful not to even have to put on a pair of gloves to trim.



Oh well at least the new cab performed well and I've got it re-stocked and ready to go another round.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Yeah man.
You learned a lot about the new grow area and the keeper buds sure aren't schwag.
Great job.

 

[Puddin'tane]

has chefro seen this yet? I think he would enjoy the title..

 

[Pulp]

Unlucky it didn't turn out like you planned, hopefully next time it'll be sweet!

 

[heady blunts]

bummer on the bulb. i suspect it's time for me to replace mine as well. at least you've got a run under your belt in the new cab. this next round will be a grand slam for sure.

 

[chefro420]

Nice Stonetech!

Free pack of People Under the Stairs beans if your interested !

 

[Stonetech]

Thanks for the support guys!

 

[Stonetech]

Things are lookin up already, both my Godbud seedlings are confirmed female. And I've got 2 strong OG clones that have been topped to go along side them. Might have to veg a couple more weeks though, we'll see.

 

[Stonetech]

First day of flower

First day of flower

Well here I go again. I had to flip the switch because the OGs were getting way too tall. I didn't want to top them anymore so maybe I'll tie them down, they only got about 6-8" of room to grow.



1/2 Godbuds is still a little small but I couldn't wait any longer for it. At least it has a nice root system. They sure don't seem to branch out sideways much, would be a good strain for SOG.



The only change I made was buying a bigger filter, sposed to be good up to 500cfm. This has improved my airflow a bit and lowered the temps by about 3C, it sure takes up a lot of room though. The OGs seem to be especially sensitive to heat, which I believe is causing the leaf curl.

I also suspect that the high heat in my cab was causing the air filter to be a lot less effective. Any one else experience this? When I went to the hydro store to buy a new one the guy said that they were flying off the shelves this week because of the +30C temps.

The roots on both strains seem to be doing great, lots more lateral growth than last time. Maybe from the new bulb?

 

[heady blunts]

yea heat and humidity fuck with the carbon. but then when it cools down and dries out it works fine again.

happened to me a couple times this summer.

 

[Stonetech]

yea heat and humidity fuck with the carbon. but then when it cools down and dries out it works fine again.

happened to me a couple times this summer.

I think your right man, so I need to explore other options, maybe ozone. I tried running my extra filter inside the cab as an additional scrubber. It completely took care of the smell, but thats alot of carbon to replace every year.

Anybody else out there runnin dual filters, one as a scrubber/one for exhaust?

 

[Stonetech]

Day 9

Day 9

Temps have finally cooled off in the basement. But still this damn leaf curl persists. I previously ruled out nute burn because my average ppms in flower were only 400, but I'm not so sure anymore.

Previously, my OGs were curlin away like normal while my God's were perfect. Then I accidentally overdosed the whole lot with some 600ppms, resulting in some nasty curl on all them. I think I can rule out environment as a possible cause, it must be nute related (ph or ppm).



I had to bend alot of branches over on the OGs this time they were bumpin their heads on the roof.



Despite everything they're still growin healthy, especially the roots.



The clones I took on the 1st day of flower have all shown roots now, 6 OGs and 2 Gods.

 

[Stonetech]

3 weeks into flower

3 weeks into flower

Things are movin along nicely right now. The plants perked up quite a bit after I lowered the ppms, still some curl though. Even though my ppms are always much lower than most I'm pretty sure thats what caused it. It could be that my ENF bucket design doesn't require a strong concentration, it is different than traditional ENF, a hybrid of sorts.

It recirculates while it is flooding aerating the res and keeping my roots healthy. This allows me to feed for 15 mins every hour without drowning them. Because I'm feeding every hour maybe I don't need as high of a concentration.



I'm already noticing that the OGs are more frosty than the last round. This confirms to me that the bulb was definitely the problem.
The Godbuds are lookin even more resinous however, and stinky! Once again my air filter has met its match, I really need to find something more effective.

 

[heady blunts]

lookin good ST!

 

[Stonetech]

Thanks Heady! Let me know when you get your cab runnin again.

After four weeks of flower the Godbud is lookin really good, kinda reminds me of the Blueberry I used to grow. Doesn't look like it will yield too much, but it will be killer. Too bad I only have two clones for the next round.



The "OG" bagseed is lookin better than last time, but still not very impressive. I guess we'll see come harvest time. If it doesn't work out though I doubt I'll ever grow bagseed again, too much of a gamble.



I just ordered some new seeds, 5 pack of White Widow and a 6 pack of Sour Kush (Sour Diesel x OG Kush), both feminized. I should be ready to run one of them after the clones I have now.

 

[Stonetech]

Bad news

Bad news

The OG bagseed has full on hermied. I think it may be due to stress from bending over the tops.

There's even a couple seeds forming in my Godbuds. I've culled the hermies now, hopefully the Godbuds don't get any worse.

No more bagseed for me, time to pop my new White Widow beans.

 

[Stonetech]

So I chopped the hermies last night and got a couple more oz to run through my new bags, including the last round I've got 6-7 oz in total. I'll post the results after its dry.

I've been soakin my White Widow seeds for a day and a half now with no signs of life, hopefully they won't take too long.

I guess I'll be runnin my 2 GBs and 2 OGs that I'm already veggin next round. Hopefully I don't stress the OGs this time.

Here's some more God Bud pics

 

[Stonetech]

More God Bud pics, around six weeks now.

 

[Stonetech]

God Bud results

God Bud results

So I chopped the GBs after 8 weeks of flower. My nutes were so low (200 ppms) at this point I didn't bother flushing them. The hermied OGs are still waiting to be made into hash. I sampled the GB for the first time last night and i must say it is some of the dankest weed I've grown. I would highly recommend it, especially for SOG.




I'm stuck running the same 2 strains for the next run but I've got some new genetics on the way. White Widow and Sour Kush (OG x SD). The feminised seeds are poppin in my cloner as I type.

 

[Stonetech]

Changes

Changes

Now that work has slowed down for me I've had time to make alot of changes and upgrades to my flower cab.

First thing was to buy a 400w lumatek dimmable ballast. This way I can run 250w or 400w, depending on the season. With the 400w I'll actually have 50w/sq.ft.

I subsequently needed to upgrade my exhaust to a 3 speed Max Fan, 330cfm. This is one of the best investments I think I made, it lowered my temps in both cabs dramatically.

I also bought a light rail 3.5 and rigged it for vert. This also decreased my temps a couple degrees by eliminating hotspots. Not sure if its even nescessary but I guess I just couldn't help myself. It'll definitely be interesting to play around with.

And finally I covered everything with reflectix and trellis. I plan on doing a Marlowe (V scrog) style grow this time, I think its the only way to maximize my space. In order to do this I had to ditch the buckets and build something to keep the plants stationary but still allow access to the individual res's. Luckily this change also increased my res volume by another gal per plant.