Magic Cannabus upgrades. 400W CMH + 256W F32T8. Organic perpetual love fest

magiccannabus · Apr 23, 2012

I've tried a couple different approaches so far. I've only really done about 70% of flowering in this chamber back when I had an HPS in there and lots of light leaks.

So my most successful method so far was using 8x 4' 2-bulb shop lights around 3-ish square feet of plant space. Worked really well, but the veg time was brutal an the training requirements were nuts.

This is the fluorescent cab. As you can see, they had to be trained really tall and skinny, it took way too much veg time! Still, it was beautiful:

This is them getting ready for the flowering chamber, I think these were three clones of Trainwreck X Colombian Gold:

Then I moved to this new chamber, but never did all the finishing work on the cabinet like I did this time, and I had a much more ghetto ballast setup.

Unfortunately I could not afford AC or risk opening the windows, so this grow succumbed to the heat of summer in a mobile home. The heat basically defoliated them rapidly, and I got some bud out of it, but it wasn't meeting it's potential. I also had a lot less soil for most of them. This time I have AC, but I've never put so many in flower at one time before. I plan to eventually run only 8 plants in this chamber with this size bag. That will give them more space, and I know they'll produce just as much given the crowding issues. This first run I wanted variety. I got these seeds from a cool friend and wanted to test them out. I guess two of the plants, plus one more on the way are from other sources. I still have a few of my old seeds that are Esbe's and Bub's work, but I don't know if they are even viable anymore. I also have a huge number of seeds of other strains but I am really not as trusting of the source(I've had a few hermies out of his stuff). So far I'm pretty happy with the way they are turning out though, and I'm trying to get a clone cycle going.

Next step is going to be grafting for a multi-strain mom!

B.C. · Apr 24, 2012

Hi Magic! it is in deed comming together! Its gonna be worth it once ya get-er rolling full steam sea-of-green. Soon yul have all the bud ya need!

Yer fluoro cab reminds me of an ol school photron machine from High Times back in the 80's. Looks like it worked well. Sorry ta hear about the heat, that had to be frustrating as hell. Thats all behind ya now though!

Its greener pastures fer you my friend! lol

Yer right about the plant numbers. I can fit 21 2 gal pots in my closset but yeild more only growing 12 extra chunkies. They always seem to fill it in and with much bigger buds too.

A multi grafted mum would save alot of space, huh?

lemme know how that goes. lol Take care... BC

Crusader Rabbit · Apr 26, 2012

You have a real interesting growing style. Very glad I checked out this thread.

:respect:

magiccannabus · Apr 26, 2012

B.C. said:
Hi Magic! it is in deed comming together! Its gonna be worth it once ya get-er rolling full steam sea-of-green. Soon yul have all the bud ya need!

Yer fluoro cab reminds me of an ol school photron machine from High Times back in the 80's. Looks like it worked well. Sorry ta hear about the heat, that had to be frustrating as hell. Thats all behind ya now though! Its greener pastures fer you my friend! lol

Oh yes the Phototron! Ironically I came up with the idea of putting shop lights on their ends on my own, but then decided it probably would not work and forgot about it for a while. Then I was doing a Google search one day and stumbled across one. Seems like they may even still be making them. It's not a bad idea, but the tall/narrow setup does provide a lot of challenge to those wanting quick results. The irony is that most modified Phototrons basically turn them into what I'm now running, because most users put an over-head light of some kind in there to provide more intensity.

An extremely slick off-shoot of this sort of thinking was the "High Pod" by "inefectualize"(I might be spelling his name wrong). This was a trash can grow using PL-L lamps inside air-cooled sleeves.

Yer right about the plant numbers. I can fit 21 2 gal pots in my closset but yeild more only growing 12 extra chunkies. They always seem to fill it in and with much bigger buds too.

A multi grafted mum would save alot of space, huh? lemme know how that goes. lol Take care... BC

I guess also this time part of me hopes that by putting too much plant in there, I'll be forced to trim some early(inner buds/lower buds). I know how I am about "samples". In fairness though, I did have a light leak/hermie problem that forced me to cut a couple plants way early.

Anyway, if I stop having cloning problems so often, I'll have a backup of all of these to work with. So far only EO and Northern Lights #1(plant 1) have solid clones. I got Critical Mass 33 to clone, but the process took too long and too much foliage was lost(has no nodes left that I can see, just fan leaves). When the new veg cabinet is done, conditions for cloning should be a lot more stable. After that, maybe grafting. We'll see. lol

magiccannabus · Apr 28, 2012

Here's a top shot of the cabinet on 4/27/2012. The foliage in there is just insane now.

Side view:

I tried defoliating on one of the Blue Hash X Northern Skunk plants(#4). I cut off all the major fans on the upper branches. I am pleasantly surprised by the change! When I first heard about defoliating, I thought "That's f***ing stupid!", but honestly it really reduced the upper stretch. The growth that resulted is waaay more compact. I'm really considering defoliating more plants tonight... anyone think that's a bad idea?

magiccannabus · Apr 29, 2012

I just went ahead and defoliated the hell out of them. It looked REALLY sad in there for about half a day and now they're already filling out again. I don't go quite as nuts with defoliating as some people here seem to, but I'm definitely sold on the idea so far.

Been having some rough times with the clones. Environmental swings in the old grow space have made establishing them a bit tough. So far two appear to be growing new shoots, but the rest I planted died. In fairness, most of those were in coir pucks for 3 weeks, then moved to the bubble cloner for more than a week, and then put in soil. So they just got old. The new cuts filling out the cloner look a lot better so I am hopeful.

Anyway, big news! I changed the settings on my Intermatic HB800RCL so they're getting their first 12 hour dark period. Tonight the lights should come back on 6 hours later than they have been. FLOWERING BEGINS!

B.C. · May 1, 2012

OH, ITS ON NOW! lol Hi Magic! man there growing like crazy, nice and healthy. They should yeild good for ya. I've grown fer years, but I still get a charge outta watchin em make bud.

I might have to try some defoliating on my next run. I think it might help the stretch with the casey jones I've been runnin. Then again, I need to try some low stress training on her ass too. I need ta do somethin to keep her shorter and more compact. Im sure it'd kick the yeild up some more.

I hope ya get yer cloning sorted out, it would suck ta lose good genetics.

Well, I can feel the vicodin kicking in and the joint I was smokin is now a roach, time to go back ta bed.

Onword, through the fog my friend! lol I'll check back in a couple of days. Take care... BC

magiccannabus · May 1, 2012

Thanks for stopping by again!

As I understand it, the fan leaves seem to grow out the section they are attached to, so if you're strategic about it, you stunt that little section of branch, causing it to stop stretching, and instead focusing it's growth at the growth tips of the next node forward. To do it correctly, I think it's best to do it sparingly. People in the big thread about it were stripping the plant completely, but that's madness to me. See, outside the plant has to accept light from a lot of angles over the day, but inside it grows way more leaves than it needs, so I'm just strategically removing them. I think this will be the only time I am going to do this for this run. From the changes they've shown though, I will always be doing this in the future at least once per cycle.

Here's a shot of the cabinet right before defoliating(4/27):

Here is about 12 hours after:

Then this was on the 30th:

I don't think most people should strip them this much. I made a few mistakes probably, but in my particular cab, with all the side lights, plus the CMH, leaf is not going to be in short supply.

In other news, I got the door finished finally. Now it's totally sealed against light except around the ballast leads(which are tight in the holes anyway), and where the air comes in under the cabinet. I'll be improving the bottom as time permits, but I think it's dark enough in there already probably.

I know it's goofy looking, but for a whole cab built from recycled lumber(mostly found in the garbage), I think it's pretty good.

I'm upset to see one more of my shop lights has crapped out. Those Walmart shop lights are so bad. I want to buy a quality strip fixture with no reflector as money permits. I'll have to figure out something in the mean time.

magiccannabus · May 4, 2012

A few signs of stress on a couple plants, but generally 12/12 is going well so far. Blue Hash X Northern Skunk plant 1(I think) didn't like the defoliating, and Pineapple Chunk has shown a few discolored leaves but is growing beautifully.

5/3/2012, right before lights off:

magiccannabus · May 9, 2012

I'll get some new pics up soon, but they're on day 10 of 12/12 now I think. I'm starting to see some flower clusters, especially on Critical Mass 33 and Blue Hash X Northern Skunk(Plant 3). Pineapple Chunk has really turned around and is now average size for this cabinet. I had a serious issue that badly hurt a couple plants and nearly killed Blue Hash X Northern Skunk (Plant 1). The problem hurt the smallest plants the worst, and I was very confused about it. I'm now certain I was over-watering. Mainly the smallest plants were getting the same water as the big ones. They clearly weren't drinking it fast enough. Plus there really needs to be less plants in this cabinet next time. The grow bags need good air around them to really do their job right, and right now they are too packed. This cabinet will be better legally with just 8 instead of 10. I'm hoping I can make this work. So far so good.

I've been doing serpentine training on the tops. It's a sort of super cropping. It really strengthens the stems, but artificially shortens the internodes. Really helps hold up the bud sites, and I'm hoping for weight! I've busted a stem or two, but it has otherwise gone well. It is very useful on Shiva, because she got really stretchy before the defoliation, and then got over watered...... It keeps those stretchy branches from collapsing.

I'll try to get pictures of them tonight when the lights come back on. For heat and cost of power reasons, I have the cabinet shut off early morning and turn on 12 hours later in the late evening. So far so good with that strategy..... Right now Critical Mass 33, Equinsu Ocha, CH9 Jack fem, and Blue Hash X Northern Skunk (plant 3) are showing the most promise. BH x NS (4) is not far behind, and both Northern Lights plants are looking good now even though plant 2 got sick from over watering. So far they've barely stretched....

magiccannabus · May 10, 2012

Ok it's picture time. Hit a rough spot with some uneven water consumption. Didn't realize I must have let the coir percentage drop too low in my mix. I will have to add more coir for future planting. Basically the smaller plants didn't need as much water as I explained above, and began to wilt. One got it really bad. I took a length of wire and poked a lot of holes all the way to the bottom of the soil. They are already coming around again. The worst one is slowly coming back to life, but it has a way to go. It's definitely not going to yield to potential. The crowding in there contributed to the problem too. Bags like this really need a little room to breathe. I'm definitely dropping to 8 plants after this harvest. So after the first 3 are harvested, I'll need to put one more in. Then that should continue as they finish until I have them replaced with 8 more. Cloning is going badly though. The location they're in right now is not great, and life has been hectic lately.

Anyway, here's the pictures of day 11 of 12/12:

Overhead group shot:

Side View:

Here is Blue Hash X Northern Skunk(Plant 1). She is recovering, but she got hurt badly. Notice the lower branch in perfect condition though, very odd....

Overhead shot of the most affected plants:

Here's Critical Mass 33 fem. She's showing the most floral growth so far. Close behind her are BH X NS (#3) and CH9 Jack Fem. Equinsu Ocha is also starting to really show flowers too. These are exciting times!

magiccannabus · May 10, 2012

Here is a shot of one of the Northern Lights plants, demonstrating the serpentine super cropping. Really strengthens the stems sections, but can be tricky to do without damage.

Here's a shot of Shiva. She got really sick too, but she's coming back really well. Her weakness made her stems lanky and I had a few breaks. My simple trick to deal with this is to take a plastic drinking straw and cut off enough length to fit, but also long enough to support the stem while it heals. The straw does not need to be bound as it will try to curl up inside itself. Even for bad breaks, if you can set them right and get a straw on there right, it usually will heal just fine.

So despite some mistakes, things are progressing nicely. There's been next to no stretch though. Not sure when that will really kick into gear.

wildgrow · May 10, 2012

Hey, Magic! Hows that p. chunk growing for you? That was some serious defoliation. That poor blue, didnt care for it too much. Good to see everything else coming around. Arent those 1st lil nugs just cunnin'? Haha! This thread should be blowing up real soon. cheers

magiccannabus · May 11, 2012

Hello! Pineapple Chunk has been an odd one the whole time. It nearly died in the freak heat wave of March, but then it bounced back a lot, but was still half the size of most of the plants. Then when I over-watered them, it wilted a lot, but now it's back again better than ever. The leaves didn't wilt bad enough to actually die off. Like CH9 Jack, Pineapple Chunk has almost caught up with the best of them. It's a lot less branches than Jack, but the branches it has are very thick. I'd estimate it has about 5-6 primary tops, but Jack has probably 12-15 of them. It looks like this will be a very Indica phenotype of Pineapple Chunk. This is good too, because I've read a lot of worrisome grow logs where people had a really Sativa expression show that gave them tall, lanky plants that take 100+ days to finish. I've also seen good grow reports finishing in 70ish days, but they are typically more indica in appearance. I really doubt it will be one of my biggest yielders, but I'm gonna be sad if it's not at least a 2 ounce plant. I'm really hoping I can pull off about 2 zips or more per plant. We'll see. No need to think that far ahead yet. Gotta get there first. Lights will be kicking back on again soon though.

Nonphixion · May 12, 2012

I'm eager to see how well this is going to turn out! Much love to ya!!!

magiccannabus · May 15, 2012

Thanks for stopping by Nonphixion!

BIG NEWS TODAY! I went back to the flowering chamber after having been gone all weekend to find that 3 plants which had thrown out an early female flower or two were now topped by large male flower clusters. Both Northern Lights #1 plants, and Shiva are full blown males at this point. Not sure why they threw out a few early calyxes, but they're definitely not showing any anymore. Not a big deal though. I have another Northern Lights waiting in the veg chamber as well as Jamaican and a couple clones I'm starting to grow out. Kinda a shock, but not a real loss. Now I have a lot more room in the flowering chamber!

magiccannabus · May 15, 2012

So now I have 3 males that are flowered a couple weeks and are about 16 inches tall on average. I think I want to save some pollen so I have some backup seeds. I only had one seed of all the CH9 strains, and I would really hate to lose the genetics entirely because something goes wrong.

What I'm thinking about doing is putting bags over the flower clusters on the males, and then put them in the dark for a few days so they drop whatever pollen they can straight into those bags. Then I can close up the bags, wipe them down, and then take them and carefully tie them over some lower branches on some of the girls. That would give me some NL#1 crosses and Shiva crosses. The NL plants have been especially good growers, they might make some nice new stuff. Is this method acceptable? Should I do it some other way? Should I just cut off the branches and put them in water to do the collection? What is the best method to get this pollen? If I cut off the stamen and smash or slice it open, can I collect pollen that way?

magiccannabus · May 24, 2012

So long without updates, but now I have some new photos. Overall things are going really well. Had a couple of plants drooping, but I watered them both and one at least has perked back up. I'm a little concerned about the look of EO right now, but she doesn't have any leaf issues currently other than drooping. I do all my watering with a powerful spray bottle, so there's plenty of air in the water and all my water is chlorine-free.

Anyway here is a group shot of the flowering cab. We're at day 24 of 12/12 now, and flowers are really forming. There was almost no stretch to speak of, but we'll see if that changes.

Here's the forming tops on Critical Mass 33:

Here's a nice cluster on the top of Jack:

Top on Blue Hash X Northern Skunk (Plant 3):

Top on Blue Hash X Northern Skunk (Plant 4):

Magic Cannabus upgrades. 400W CMH + 256W F32T8. Organic perpetual love fest

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