Closet grow with 2 400w cool-tubes

[bluesbravo]

(This is modified from a previous post requesting help that apparently was unreasonable so I am trying a different approach)

I have been growing for yrs using CFLs, but I just recently decided to expand from a single plant which provided nice buds for special occasions into a larger grow that I can have 6-8 plants and a perpetual harvest.

Here is my setup -

closet grow with 2 adjustable, dimmable (sic?) 400w cool tubes, one of each spectrum running at 500w total

soil grow

two fans that provide lots of movement (leaves)


my own strain I have developed over the past 6 years and Black Russian (both indica doms)

With my CFL setup, heat was never an issue. With my current setup, I am able to keep the heat around 84 degress running at 500w, but after a trial run of 2-3 weeks, I think I am seeing signs of heat stress. My mother plants are a gorgeous shade of green (in another room) but my flowering plants in my new setup are 'yellowing' out somewhat, along with some upward turning of a few fan leaves.

My question is this: would I be better off pulling one of the cool tubes out and running 300-400w of just yellow spectrum, or should I leave them both and cut them to 50% for a total of 400w across both spectrums? Before I amped up the wattage, they were doing great with both running at 50% - no heat stress at all. And its just been in the last two days that any stress has been evident. But I had to test the limits to see how much I could power I could use.

I just recently visited a state in our union that legally sells MJ for recreational use, and I have returned home totally motivated to get my garden up to its full potential. My strain, Space Mountain, is as good as anything I sampled while on vacation (Sour Alien, Lemon Diesel, Blue Dream, Grape God and several others).

My small garden is one of my passions, and i had decent success with CFLs, but now that I have more room I want more buds

 

[SweetDee]

I live in Denver and much rather just grow My own also .Its ton of fun for sure and saves big $$$ if ya smoke a lot .

About your methods .either or which ever you prefer . Though people on forums will argue for you all day about mixed spectrum this and yellow spectrum that but in the end of the day no one really knows nor will any one person make up their minds are do they have any proof of their claims . You will have to figure out what you want on your own. Do either one of those . I like the idea of mixed spectrums . Though the color temp shifts when dimming I don't think that fucking matters that much either . Good luck and grow your own its gonna work out no matter what .

 

[bluesbravo]

Thank you - appreciate the input

 

[2 Legal Co]

BB
How are you set up to extract heat from the growroom? You definitely need to to address heat since you changed from CFLs.

I use T-5s; 2ea 4' 8tube, Fixtures at 432watts each,,,,, in the basement...... and I require heat extraction...... Installed a 6" inline duct fan to the exterior.

What is your RH % reading?

 

[2 Legal Co]

U didn't say where your location is. Humid, dry?

Look to 'cooled' intake air, if you are having heat problems. .... but curious as to if you have enough humidity in the room....(plants can dry out if too dry),, so you have the option of cooler air, and or more humidity. Just thoughts.

Oh and to monitor the RH when the lights go out when the girls are in residence. It tends to go up at night.

 

[bluesbravo]

I live in the Southeast, and it is very humid. I live in a very secluded neighborhood in a suburb, and I am literally growing in my bathroom closet. It has a tile floor and I keep the door open but I have reflectors that keep the light contained. I keep my house at 70 degrees, and the average temp with the lights running at 50% (400w total) is 75-78. I will include a couple of pics of a mother plant that is in a separate room - it get a lil stressed while I was on vacation but it is doing much better now. Perhaps you could help me out with what was stressing her?

 

[2 Legal Co]

BB; That's why the 20 questions. Need to figure out 'how come'.

Might I suggest a magnifying device and look at the underside of the damaged leaves.
Bug life maybe?

Or maybe something as simple as root bound? How long in that size pot? U might want to slip her out of the pot and have a look at the rootball, could be heavily root bound.

The new growth looks healthy however. So I'd look, wait, and observe... for now. Tough call.

Were the damaged leaves close to new when you were on Vaca? Kind of looks like a water shortage... maybe in conjunction with too small a pot? Just thinking out loud. Sorry.

From the pics... I'd pluck the damaged leaves continue on. Maybe with an up-potting as well.

 

[bluesbravo]

This is a very, very resilient strain and she is recovering nicely from my time away. From my experience, this strain will do very well in the pot it is in for about 15-18 months and then I will see the main stem start to show signs and i know it's going to die soon. I have had this strain since 2008, and I am very familiar with her signals - but I could always do better.

here is a brief explanation of my history of growing and why I have so few posts -

For three yrs, I grew with CFLs. I found a free book by SeeMoreBuds (or something like that) that gave a bare-bones how-to CFL grow. I had very, very poor results until a friend turned me on to this forum, and i found Dr GreenGenes cheesaw thread, and I figured out from it what I was doing wrong. Then I had really, really good results for about a year, and then I got married and my new situation involved a teenage kid. So I agreed to basically turn my mother into a houseplant for about two years. Once the situation changed again, the opportunity to start growing bufs presented itself and I started back very slowly with the CFLs. But, the situation improved further and now I am ready to get 6 plants in my flower closet, pulling 2 out every 3-4 weeks.

Sorry about the long post but I just wanted to clear the air - I BELIEVE cannabis is a gorgeous, beneficial plant that really brings out the nurturing side of me (I have no biological children of my own and my dogs and my plants are my passions) and I cannot remember a day in the last 20 yrs that I have not smoked (well, there have been a couple of dry patches). I have no desire to ever sell a gram - I only want to provide enough for me and my wife. During my 'dormant' stretch we have had to rely on black market supplies which are inferior, expensive and risky. My main goal is to rid myself of that experience altogether.

 

[2 Legal Co]

This is a very, very resilient strain and she is recovering nicely from my time away. From my experience, this strain will do very well in the pot it is in for about 15-18 months and then I will see the main stem start to show signs and i know it's going to die soon. I have had this strain since 2008, and I am very familiar with her signals - but I could always do better.

here is a brief explanation of my history of growing and why I have so few posts -

For three yrs, I grew with CFLs. I found a free book by SeeMoreBuds (or something like that) that gave a bare-bones how-to CFL grow. I had very, very poor results until a friend turned me on to this forum, and i found Dr GreenGenes cheesaw thread, and I figured out from it what I was doing wrong. Then I had really, really good results for about a year, and then I got married and my new situation involved a teenage kid. So I agreed to basically turn my mother into a houseplant for about two years. Once the situation changed again, the opportunity to start growing bufs presented itself and I started back very slowly with the CFLs. But, the situation improved further and now I am ready to get 6 plants in my flower closet, pulling 2 out every 3-4 weeks.

Sorry about the long post but I just wanted to clear the air - I BELIEVE cannabis is a gorgeous, beneficial plant that really brings out the nurturing side of me (I have no biological children of my own and my dogs and my plants are my passions) and I cannot remember a day in the last 20 yrs that I have not smoked (well, there have been a couple of dry patches). I have no desire to ever sell a gram - I only want to provide enough for me and my wife. During my 'dormant' stretch we have had to rely on black market supplies which are inferior, expensive and risky. My main goal is to rid myself of that experience altogether.

Sounds like you have sufficient experience to know what's going on. Better than anyone can do remotely.

Enjoy the grow.

 

[Rollajoint]

Good luck mate hope it goes smooth for you.

 

[bluesbravo]

Thanks - but I am far from being problem-free.

I am having some major difficulties cloning in rockwool. I have read and watched several tutorials, but I am still not having any success. In the past, my cloning was about 85-90% successful, but I did them 2-3 at a time and my technique leaves a lot to be desired. In order to get the garden producing my goal, I am going to need to clone much more successfully.

I could also use some tips on feeding during the veg stage for my mothers. They are healthy but I need some guidance to make them really bush out.

 

[bluesbravo]

In the past, I cloned using soil....cut at 45 degrees, dip in clone-x and put it in a small pot....spray the hell out of it over the course of 5-6 days and look for the tips of the fan leaves to yellow. It has been my experience that the yellowing was a sign of the roots developing, but while learning about cloning in rockwool I have heard info that directly contradicts my experience.

 

[2 Legal Co]

I've gone to a homemade version of EZCloner.

homer bucket
lid with holes 2"
small pond pump
spray nozzles 360* 6each
2" net pots with the bottoms cut off
foam plugs presplit to the middle
Flexible sprinkler pipe to form a loop, with jets installed

So I get to SEE the roots develop. I like this better.

MOst of the time I don't even use any 'rooting compound'. just water.

 

[2 Legal Co]

BB
I wasn't terribly impressed with rockwool either. Didn't figure out why,,, just wasn't.

Using the Homer Spray Cloner I don't spray the foliage at all. No dome either. I just put it under a 2', 4 tube, T5 and in a couple of weeks I have root bumps developing on most of the cuts. A few take longer, but in a month most have 5-6" roots minimum.

If they are to be grown in soil, they are transplanted to potting soil at that point. They do sometimes take a bit to send out the fine roots needed to take soil nutrients.

I've been known to hold Bonsai'd Mothers in small pots 3.5-4.5"s,,,, taking 5-6" cuts for cloning. But I'm Not the expert here I've only been growing since A64 was passed here in Colorado....so short time. Mine are all vegged and bloomed under T5s.