Daylight and Fluoros

[daylighting]

My last grow was outdoors in 10 gallon grow bags; I produced enough to last me several years, but I no longer have the time or desire to wander off into the woods, especially during the summer heat. I also use very little pot nowadays (only one or two grams a month), so I've decided to attempt a more simplified grow.

I work for myself and have a small office unit several storeys above street level. I'm considering growing two plants in two gallon pots behind curtains. The office gets daylight and some direct sunlight. Since the light will be filtered through glass and a light curtain, I intend to run CFLs and T5s to supplement the natural light during the day. I'm thinking two 24W CFLs and 3 14W T5s in series. There is an exhaust fan in the space and I don't think two small plants (if I even get two females) will generate much odor, especially since they must flower and finish at under two feet. Day length doesn't get over 14 hours here. I will run the lights from 7 am to 6 pm daily. If I need to work after lights out, I have a cabinet I can place the plants in.

I have quite a variety of seed from my previous endeavors, although much of it is five years old and has been stored in a box (not refrigerated).

As for medium, I'm thinking peat with hydroton. I will fertilize primarily organically and supplement with chem fertilizer for trace elements if needed.

How does the above sound?

 

[daylighting]

Bought two one gallon pots and filled them with pro mix (peat, coco and perlite) and 20% hydroton. Flushed the pots well, and then sowed two bagseed from very good commercial stuff. Waited 48 hours and decided to sow two Homegrown Fantaseeds Afghani into the pots too, since the bagseed hadn't raised their heads yet.

I tried to grow the Afghani outdoors around six years ago and it grew extremely slowly in the winter temps, and flowered immediately. The tiny female was fertilized by a tiny male, and I got 2-3 healthy seeds that were much bigger than the originals. At the same time, a small Jamaican Pearl (Sensi) female also got pollinated and I have a few seeds from that cross I may try and germinate since I think they'll flower faster than the pure sativas I used to work with outdoors. I may attempt Seedsman's Original Haze after the Afghanis / Afghani x Jamaican Pearl.

 

[daylighting]

Well, I had nine afghani seeds left. Four were sown directly into media and haven't germed yet, although I have had seeds take over two weeks in the past. I put another two into water for a soak in a dilute kelp solution, and I scuffed the last five and added them for a soak. Squeezed a few open and one looks quite healthy. Hopefully I get some sprouts! I have quite a few strains that have been stored for 7 years + so I'll keep trying until I get some sprouts. Alternatively I may need some new genetics!

 

[daylighting]

Oops, that would be "I scuffed the last three." Stoner math there.

 

[wildgrow]

Your plan sounds pretty good. With the light cycle, a sativa would probably be best. For the height restriction, an afghani or indica.

Any restrictions on how long you can let it grow? A sativa could be trained to grow horizontally - keeping the height down.

I really don't know how well the others would do going straight to flower from seed. I don't think they would produce much.

What else is in that seed horde?

 

[daylighting]

I'd like to start with an indica-dominant strain so I have some smoke; I'm running pretty low.

Let's see, off the top of my head I also have:

Filipino sativa bagseed
Landrace Cambodian
Landrace Indian
NYC Haze bagseed (one)
Reservoir Sour Mist
Sagarmatha Gardener's Choice
Seedsman Original Haze
Sensi Jamaican Pearl

All of the beans are 6-8 years old now and have been stored in a DVD case at room temperature.

 

[wildgrow]

Look for info on gibberellic acid or h2o2 for popping seeds. I have no experience with it, but theyre supposed to increase the chances of popping older seeds. Maybe look into autoflowering strains. They can go from seed to harvest in 60 days.

Interesting list, esp. the bagseeds and landraces.

 

[daylighting]

I have used H202 in the past; it provides oxygen to the seed and also keeps cooties at bay. I am tempted to pick something up (Seedsman Narkush, perhaps). An autoflowering strain is a good suggestion. Never tried playing with one of those!

 

[daylighting]

Just bought an autoflowering strain (Jet-47). Got your visitor message, but as this is a new account, I can't reply. I will definitely give the sativas a whirl later in the year when the light is naturally shorter. The beauty of supplementing natural sunlight indoors is the buds won't get rained on and mold! Once my jars are (relatively) full, I can go back to the sativas I love.

 

[wildgrow]

Interesting lineage on those autos. Good luck!

 

[daylighting]

Thanks, and who knows, one of the afghanis may just raise its head! Digged around a little earlier and found one of the early ones with blue/gray mold on it.

 

[Sativa Dragon]

I would consider some odour control as large buildings often share air, and I am guessing your air is going to get rather pungent with two plants in there.

Peace

 

[daylighting]

Thanks. There is very little in the way of air sharing in this part of the world. I do have an ozone generator I could use if need be and odor gel is easy to pick up locally.

 

[Sativa Dragon]

Thanks. There is very little in the way of air sharing in this part of the world. I do have an ozone generator I could use if need be and odor gel is easy to pick up locally.

Fair enough then, remeber with th Ozone it can be harmful to humans, I used to run one 3 mins every hour, I think I remeber the rule being is if you can smell it, it's running to much like if you smell ozone turn it down it's not good for humans.

Peace

 

[daylighting]

There is an independent exhaust fan and I'm thinking about a method of filtering the exhaust through it using carbon sheets. I could also apply one to the rear of the desk fan I have in there and also a 3M filter in the air conditioner to remove dust (and possibly odor). The air conditioner is set to cycling air from inside the room. Thanks SativaDragon, you got my brain whirring on the ventilation thing!

The ozone generator I have is a simple one and also works as a negative ion generator. I could trigger the ozone setting when leaving the space; it turns off automatically after ten minutes.

 

[spiritual uk]

Here is a plant grown under a skylight window with a cfl turned on during gloomy days.If the sun comes out and through my window, i utilize it.Every windowsill in the house is full of various plants and seedlings.

peace

 

[daylighting]

What a beauty! Thank you for sharing.

While waiting for my new genetics, I decided to soak some Afghani x Jamaican Pearl seeds from 2007. I only had five and put three in the cup. These are dark, fat and beautifully mottled seeds; I may just get some sprouts!

 

[daylighting]

No sprouts from the Afghani Pearls. Cracked them and the seed coats were extremely hard.

Out of boredom, I opened up my pack of Sagarmatha Gardener's Choice. I didn't realize they were packed full of air/nitrogen. The seeds look great and two sank almost immediately. Here's hoping they sprout since they are from before Sagarmatha's bust in '07.

 

[daylighting]

Still no luck on the sprouts, and a few of the seeds went black and rotten. I'm going to hold off on germinating anything else for now (aside from the new Jet-47). I have tons of great sativas to play with, so I may just have to stick some outdoors in the fall after an indoor start. That should keep flowering time and size down and I won't have to worry about hurricanes, although during my last grow, my big sativas had no issues whatsoever with hurricane speed winds!

 

[daylighting]

2/2 on the Jet 47s within 48 hours! Both have put out healthy taproots directly in media. They should have raised their heads by tomorrow night.

Bought some HEPA filters with activated carbon for my air conditioner and fans, and some thin bags of activated carbon to suspend over the fans and in the exhaust fan (which vents outdoors, several storeys up), as well in the air conditioner vent. I believe the combination should put a significant dent in any odor from my one or two ladies. The only carbon scrubber I've been able to find locally is a 6" model, and while cheap (around $100 all in), will be far too loud at over 400 CFM!

Here's hoping I get at least one girl. Picked up lots of new genetics to play with and from now on they're getting stored in the fridge!

I also bought a spider plant to increase indoor air quality, and I'll pick up an aloe vera next. Since I will soon have plants to work with, I'm going to have a massive 'nursery' cleanup tomorrow in anticipation of the new babies!