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Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
DS: Thanks for your response. I know what you mean about not hanging the scrubber and fan. I have an 8 inch centrifugal fan and filter and together they probably weigh 50 lbs or more. I tried hanging them in my closet but after hours of labor couldnt get them to fit right; now i just place them in the room and they act as a carbon scrubber. Works pretty well too although i havent really put it to the test yet.

CD: I hope your work tonight is going smoothly.
I messaged the seller of those tents on ebay and they messaged back, saying that their tents can hold up to 70 lbs or equipment? But you're saying thats not the case, so are they full of it? Maybe their design changed since then...
70 lbs would be more than enough for reflectors and intake and exhaust fans. Maybe even a co2 generator.
I saw your contests thread and it seemed interesting. You would have to give the same clone to growers using different methods and then exchange samples so everyone could compare the smokes. It would be interesting...

JS, SC: Welcome to M.U.R.D.A.!

I'm having trouble dragging and dropping thumbnails into my post. Hopefully this gets fixed soon.
 

facelift

This is the money you could be saving if you grow
Veteran
"Earlier chop is more fruity and a skyrocket almost paranoid inducing high"

That's it! That's how I would describe my 45 day old white widow. After that initial head burst though, I tend to get sleepy stoned. I have 3 more that will be harvested at 60, 75 and 90 days, and I'm expecting that the 3 ICE and 2 Mazar will be ready for an early cut around then.
 

dontstepongrass

M.U.R.D.A. / FMB crew
Veteran
facelift - i can dig that u are experimenting with how long to flower your girls and that you are observing the different effects. honestly, i need to start doing this more
 

dontstepongrass

M.U.R.D.A. / FMB crew
Veteran
chef - i think our consecutive posts in response to baba point out a major difference in brand name and generic grow tents! this is important, because like you said, you can still use the cheaper one just as effectively if you customize it. i feel i need to clarify, while i like the ease of use on mine i would love to get a bigger one for same price and install light mover like you lol! oh i can dream...
 

Chef Dude

Member
grass: yeah i debated that in my head whether to spend 800 or 200 and finally my budget decided for me. and I must say I'm happy now with my decision. With the more expensive ones you are kind of stuck with how they are set up and even if you can modify them do you really want to fuck up something so expensive?


I posted some pics in my album of the work I did last night. I cleared out my flower room and cleaned and scrubbed it. All of my MF plants needed support and so i staked them and tied them. some of the ST had a minor spider mite problem so I took care of that with a 1:3 mixture of 99% alcohol to water, it kills on contact and evaporates quickly doing little to no damage to the plant. I cleaned off the small amount of webbing I found in the couple plants and started putting them back in. Newest generation is in the back of the room with ST in the middle and MF sitting in the front. It is litterally wall to wall in my 6x6 space now with 45 plants, some of the runts didnt make it in due to space concerns though so I'm 5 plants shy of my full harvest. This shouldnt be a problem next time as I have moved to 3 gal grow bags instead of the 5 gal. I also put all my clones into small containers with dirt so the third harvest from now is already starting day 1 today. I am going to put them all in 3 gal bags today, but i ran out of mixed dirt last night and was too tired to do that job, so it will be done today. My newest generation is actually 30 strong and the reason for this is that Im prolly gonna choose new moms to start so that they are ready in two months. this way I'll be able to flower my mothers out in a few months as well. I think my ST mom should give me a pound just by herself after another month of vegging. I also took a bunch of pictures of the plants while they were in regular light so you can see the size of these babies. well guys im gonna go mix dirt now so I can put the rest of my newest babies to bed. Happy growing and make sure you check the new pics out. I'll put a few in here but its kind of a pain in the ass so you will have to check my album to see them all, dont worry I dont generally disappoint. I'm gonna go schmoke myself skitarded now and get up to my elbows in cow shit and dirt.

My tiers using diff sized buckets for height and a MDF board with formika finish to protect against rotting.
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I got a couple into bags before I ran out of dirt last night!
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check out this tripple header
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My plants kick it old school with this vintage zenith I got from the last people that lived here, they just left such a gem, can you believe it?
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the next generation settling in
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Quite literally wall to wall in here.
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On a side note any central ohio hydro growers that want to do an experiment with me?
 
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Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
CD: Impressive looking space. I can see how aerated your soil mix is: looks like more perlite than soil in there.
Took a peek at your gallery, thanks for labeling all the pics so we know what we're seeing.
To clarify, this is your flowering tent, right? Do you have a separate veg area/tent or do you veg them in the flowering tent?
My closet now has one 400w light on 24/7 and im vegging out one of my tubs; i forgot how much a good veg can do for growth. Because I have no separate veg area with decent light (80w flouros doesnt really veg out a clone) I have to do a sog-style grow to maximize my yields. Ah well...
Do you really keep that radio on for the plants to listen to or is that for when you're tending them? There's a chanting growers group on icmag; i wonder what kind of music mj plants like...

My sdog seedlings have been hit by fungus gnats pretty hard; i always just kind of ignored them because they never seemed to affect my mother plants that bad, but then i just read that they hit seedlings hard because the young will eat the fine roots. So there's another reason why my sdogs are vegging slow...
Going to pick up some sand and mosquito strips at the hardware store; I think this is why i lost the Super Star seedlings. :fsu: This has GOT to stop...

Dragging and dropping pics doesn't seem to be working for me, and im using firefox no less. Ugh, ill get this issue sorted out soon.
 

Chef Dude

Member
thanks Baba, yes i just mixed dirt a few min ago and the ratio is for 100% certainty this time, it is 15g dirt : 20g perlite, so roughly a 3:4 ratio of dirt to perlite. yes that is my flowering tent, and I do have a seperate vegging area which is shown below. in the veg area my clones all veg under 6x300w equivalent CFLs, soon to be 12x. I have not been able to afford the second tent which will be 8x4x6.5 and have a 6 foot light rail with a 1k hortilux MH and a digital balast(need to save some energy). after harvest i plan on selling my two hydrofarm lights, 1k hps and 400 mh, and upping it to 2x600w/hps in flower and 1x1000w/mh all digital and new reflectors. I am also going to get one more 4x4 tent to isolate all of my mothers for sure, and perhaps a father tent down the road but thats a ways off. Yes the radio was playing 24/7 before but now it plays only when the light is on because i read it helps the plants to know its time to grow. In my opinion the plants should have nothing but positive vibes being put toward them and with a radio its kind of limiting what stations play nothing but happy songs. I have overcome this by playing the all classical station as its the only music that no matter what it sounds positive and warm unlike some of todays music which has different moods and messages.

on your gnat problem, I just ordered some predatory mites(Phytoseiulus persimilis). These things are supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, they are cheap and when they have killed off all of the other insects they simply start eating each other until they eventually disappear. Amazing!! I'm very excited to see them in action under my jewlers loupe, it will be cool to watch mother nature performing an act of vengance for me and my farming bretheren. I cant wait for the next 20 days to go by, Its almost harvest time, and that means i get to go shopping for more and better equippment to make it better still. And of course smoke the best bud in the entire world:joint::woohoo:

Veg area is on the left, Mommas are in the 30gal containers on the right, and clones are hanging from the cieling to save space. this picture was at 2.5 weeks vegging, all of the plants in this pic are now flowering as of yesterday, except the mothers of course. momma mental is in front, behind her and to the left is Momma White Russian, and in the back right corner is my 2.25ft tall 4ft wide Sweet tooth momma. I cant wait to flower the mommas out, I think I may get a pound and a half from the ST alone when all is said and done.


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now that you can all see my sweet tooth flowering can anyone help me identify its number or pedigree? I would really appreciate the help.
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Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
CD: How many CFL's are you running in the veg area? Are those reflectors made out of buckets? It's interesting how you wired that.
So your planned veg area is to have a 1000w MH on a light rail in a tent? That WOULD be an awesome veg space. If I ever went bigger, I'd use my existing flowering lights (2x400w) for veg and buy a 1000w on a light rail, or 2 600's, or even 2 1000's for flowering. Not sure if I'd need that much capacity though, plus the electricity bills wouldn't be any fun...
How long have you been playing muzak for the plants? Do you think it really helps? My friend once mentioned that saying nice things to your plants might help with their growth. I never really bothered to do it, although I'm always concerned about them, until it's time to chop. Hopefully they can't read minds. :rasta:
Those predatory mites sound wicked. I wonder how they reproduce if all they'll do is each each other until everyone's dead...?
I can't help you on identifying your sweettooth, but its frosty and looks like its well on its way to getting properly flushed. Good job!



Can finally post pics again! Shot of some rockwool cubes soaking.



Some cuts soaking in water, along with a razor and rooting hormone.



Scraping the stem with the razor (first cleaned the razor using rubbing alcohol).



Another stem scraped.



Their new home.
This is my first time scraping the stem, hopefully it makes a difference. They've been in the dome for about 4 days, misted the cuttings the first couple days, now im only misting the dome. The cubes are still moist, i'm touching them daily to make sure they dont try out before i get roots.
Hopefully i can get cloning in rockwool down. Im still going to try that bubble cloner, but I need at least one cloning method locked down before i start experimenting...
 
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Chef Dude

Member
running 6 300w equivalent cfls now, soon to be 12. yes the reflectors are made from buckets, what can i say I am a bit frugal sometimes, and they are just lamp kits purchased from wal-mart or lowes or home depot or the like. I have two bulbs on a y socket per lamp fixture, and its great for vegging and I've even seen them do a great job flowering too.

I am actually moving to 2x600w hps on 1 rail after this harvest in order to deliver more light on a broader spectrum, for the flower room. I believe im actually going to sell all my lights and get all digital balasts, i think the future brights are probably in the front running now as they only use 120v for up to a 1000w bulb and can run multiple wattages of bulbs, and both mh and hps. My they are pricey though, but for my kids, they deserve the best as good as they treat daddy. been playing music since the beginning of this flower period and it has made a very noticable difference in my opinion. i dont know as they are meant to reproduce in a small garden, but you know how nature always finds a way. For my purposes and for how inexpensive they are ($25/1000) i dont mind just replenishing every harvest if needed.
 

Mt Toaker

Member
Yeah, if you flower with CFLs you just have to cram in as many as you can to get best results.

I always have music playin on my computer which is 3" away from my grow. . . Don't know if it makes a difference but I like to think they enjoy my selection of jams. Maybe if I play enough Jimmy Hendrix they will trip you out :)
 
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Well after some complicated delays I am up and running again finally, made a few changes to the room and am planning to establish a separate veg area for moms during this grow. Going to be trying some new things later on as well but for now here is a pic of the little ones...

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20x Killing Fields from this place. Really looking forward to these as the few pics I've seen have been incredible. Will be taking cuttings soon in order to facilitate mother selection. Hoping to get lucky and find a purple pheno with good yield and strong high to clone for future grows. So far they are doing well under the 400w MH. The coco keeps very moist but they seem to be wanting a drink pretty much every day and I've started giving them some nutrients with every feeding. The Killing Fields seems to veg a bit slower than the last couple strains I have grown, or possibly it could be due to slightly lower temps/low humidity it being the depths of winter and all. The room has been in the 80's with 30-40% humidity... Tomorrow I think it's going to be in the 50's or 60's outside so that should improve. :rasta:

That's all for now. Looking good in the midwest.
 
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Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
DS: 4 days under the dome and they're still nice and moist. :rasta: I remember from my previous rockwool runs (when i first started cloning) they always dried out. Not so this time.

CD: I think your reflectors were ingenius: my first reflector was a piece of aluminum ducting. It was shit; if anything, the white plastic of the buckets looks way more reflective.
2x600's on a rail sounds like it'll cover a lot of space. How much energy do digital ballasts save over regular ballasts? How much are those future brights? You sure they're worth it?
There's a new bulb technology called CMH: ceramic metal halide. Supposedly replicates the sun very well, including UV. Don't know if they can run on digital ballasts though, think I read they wont, but that may have changed.
Playing music really made a difference (like, more than 10%)? You sure it wasnt because your technique got better? Cmon man, dont be yanking my leg, I dont want to have to hook up a boombox in my closet...

MT: There must be a wall between your computer and grow if your computer is 3" away. You sure your plants can really hear through a wall?

WC: I've looked at san nies seeds before and they looked like they had a good selection of dank genetics. Good prices too.
My Flo turns purple with cool temps but when the bud dries it loses a lot of color, you'd have to look to notice the purple. However, purple does make the buds look really tasty while they're flowering. :rasta:
This your first run in coco? Never run it but from what ive read on here it's basically soil-less hydro: in fact im using Rez's recipe for my DWC, and he grows in coco. So it's not surprising you have to water everyday, cause they're going to grow like they're in a good hydro system.
Your temp doesn't seem too low, my room ranges from 70-75 and it feels warmer than the rest of my place. My humidity is a shade over 40% and it doesnt feel dry in there, but that may be because of the warmth.
 
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Second run in coco, last run went pretty well so decided to stick with it. Haven't tried a hydro setup yet but my first run was in an organic soil mix and I have to say that coco is much easier to work with than soil at least for my setup. I am also using Rez's 'formula'...good stuff :joint: As for the temperature I guess I forgot to mention it gets down as low as 68 during the 4 hour dark period, but I don't think that's really low enough to slow them down.

Question for everyone: When is the earliest you have taken a clone from a plant grown from seed? When is too early? Almost all the information I can find on cloning it seems everyone is taking large cuttings from established mothers--I'm kind of worried about the possibility of taking clones too early and seriously damaging/killing my babies.
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
WC: I have a question about coco: is it expensive to run? By that I mean, how much does coco cost and how much of it do you need for each plant? I know with coco you can basically grow trees in 1 gallon buckets, so you probably dont need much per plant. And I know coco comes in bricks and bags, and that if it's compressed like in brick form it basically expands 10 times when you add water.
A lot of expert growers on icmag have switched to coco. Not saying I will, although I am a bit of a follower, but the idea is intriguing. One thing that dissuades me from switching over, other than the work ive already put into my buckets, is the fact that coco needs to be watered everyday, especially when they get big. I dont travel a lot but occasionally do find myself away from my grow for a couple days or more. Some sort of drip irrigation system would make a coco setup almost maintenance free, if you can set it up.
It's been a while since I took a clone from a young plant but I'd imagine you would want to wait till they get at least 6 inches tall, with 4-5 internodes. Then you can take the top portion, the first few inches and 2 internodes. I think that's actually how you start a bonsai mother, by making that first big chop.
 

reddy1

Member
ICMag Donor
coco is cheaper than soil, less than a dollar per gallon of medium if you buy in bulk. you can also reuse it if you use enzymes or h3o. i'm currently on my 3rd run of a batch.

you don't water everyday until it needs it, meaning wait until the roots fill in then water up to 3 times a day. coco+ timed drippers+ run to waste is fukin easy. very forgiving. proven great results. try it.

the earliest i've successfully taken a clone was 4th node.
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
RE: Thanks for the reply. Yeah, coco sounds like the shiznit. It would be nice not having to carry buckets of water back and forth, but I'm going to stick with this DWC, see if I can master it, before moving on to something else. Who knows, by the time I switch setups, maybe there'll be something new...
What do you mean you can reuse it if you use enzymes or h3o? Did you mean h2o2 (hydrogen peroxide)? What enzymes? I have superthrive B1, but that's more of a vitamin than an enzyme...
Ideally if I ran coco I'd use timed drippers. Is that a hard system to set up, what with all the tubing? Do you need anything other than a rez, a pump, a timer and tubing? I should look at some dripper threads here on icmag. Wouldn't a 24 hour drip be easier; you wouldn't need a timer then, although you'd have to be careful to not drown your plants...
 
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oohcow

Member
^ from what i've read babaooey, it's easier to setup a manifold with drippers coming out of it all connected to a pump in the rez....

You can look at... Bluemat (sp?) drippers for an out of the box dripper...
 
Blumat drippers are actually what I will be setting up once I repot and get ready to flower. They are kind of a bitch to find in the US, but I found a site that has them. Unfortunately they are backordered so I'm waiting patiently. Kind of works out considering the somewhat slow growth during veg for the Killing Fields. Hopefully they come back in stock in the next week or so.....
 

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