Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?

[Thomas Cherry]

Sorry man i think i'm asking the wrong cat.

Like i said, i'v read a lot about the moon cycle. Not that i'm trying to be a know-all. I was'nt refering to the light of the moon itself.

You see HK, The moon's gravitational pull has an effect all (all) bodys' of water. For example.

New moon
http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC062998/new moon.gif


The first quarter http://adlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/3 day moon sm.jpg

Around the first quarter is time to sow seeds. As the moon's pull helps to germinate and sprout the seed.

At the time, when the moon is three quarters waning (that's past full moon, and the moon light is decreased by one quarter). Like this moment in time (ish). This is ideal time for pruning, cloning (as well as time for planting bulb and root vegetables). Beacause the gravitational pull is reversed. The water table goes the opposite direction, down.

Also by planting by the cycle phase of the moon. Your palnt can be healthier, and more productive.

I may do a thread on this subject, if i get the time this year.

 

[Thomas Cherry]

What i mean about down, is towards the roots.

The water goes to the roots within hte plant. If you were to take a clone (like i had done last saturday) not much sap bleeds from the cut. If you are to clone while the moon is at three quarters to being full. The moon's pull is increasing. So the plant bleeds. And consequently, clones will take longer to root.

You see what i was thinking is if i flower now. There will be less stretch more energy is going too bud production.

I bet if i do start a thread, some one is bound to chime in.

 

[alk_loid]

i can smell plants in my room, thats weird and bad cuz why wont my scrubber work? or lightleaks might let so much smell outside the cab? this is really bad.

 

[TGT]

alk loid, if you can smell weed outside the room something is wrong. Either your scrubber is too old, it is too small for the application or there are leaks in the room and the air coming into the room is greater than the air leaving from the scrubber.

First you want to make sure the room is sealed really well with duc-tape and Panda plastic. A few small leaks are fine because with the scrubber exhausting more air than can enter will cause a vaccum in the room so that any leak will not let air leave. It will constantly be sucking air inward and not out. This is the best way to handle smell.

Hope this helps and good luck.

TGT

 

[alk_loid]

my passive in take works well, checked with lighter to see where air moves. evertythings fine there i think.
i have some lightleaks & possible smell leaks?? maybe theres the problem?
i dont think scrubber is too small. i used some calculation here,
damn this is bad.

and my temps now stay 86F . daytime, later it drops little. and when lights out theres no problem.
so i wonder that i really should find some glasscuting shop and make somekind aircooled hood.
friend argues or wonders that if cannabis naturally grow in very hot climates and in greenhouses for example, where temps may rise way more than 86f . so he tells if cannabis grow there why shouldnt it work for cab?
dunno, i think intresting question so ask you guys, smarter ones.
do plants dont grow or just grow slower in hot climate?
how u monitor your temps? maybe im doing it wrong lol, but i dont think.
if i have termometer right where plants (theres yet free space around them, on top of the soil) and ligh shines straight to termometer.
or should i check it in shadow, like near wall or?

im high right now, so if this is readable (dunno gramm.)and someone would help me . this would be real nice.

 

[HempKat]

Sorry man i think i'm asking the wrong cat.

Like i said, i'v read a lot about the moon cycle. Not that i'm trying to be a know-all. I was'nt refering to the light of the moon itself.

You see HK, The moon's gravitational pull has an effect all (all) bodys' of water. For example.

New moon
http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC062998/new moon.gif


The first quarter http://adlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/3 day moon sm.jpg

Around the first quarter is time to sow seeds. As the moon's pull helps to germinate and sprout the seed.

At the time, when the moon is three quarters waning (that's past full moon, and the moon light is decreased by one quarter). Like this moment in time (ish). This is ideal time for pruning, cloning (as well as time for planting bulb and root vegetables). Beacause the gravitational pull is reversed. The water table goes the opposite direction, down.

Also by planting by the cycle phase of the moon. Your palnt can be healthier, and more productive.

I may do a thread on this subject, if i get the time this year.

I'm not disputing the effect of the moon, and I know there is always the gravitational influence, regardless of whether the water being influenced is indoors or out.

The point I'm making though is that plants evolved over thousands and thousands of years to respond to environmental cues. Now we know that the plant has evolved to be triggered to flower when the night period is 12 hours or longer. This is a point in time that is going to be within a day or two of the same day, year after year. I'm not sure if the moon's phase match up with that such that it will always be a full moon at the point a plant is triggered to flower in nature. If the moon is not in the right phase at that time then do all plants do poorly? I think not. This would suggest that the moon phase has little to do with when you flower. Flowering is a fairly long process, so maybe the moon is less a factor because it will be a full moon once or twice during flowering, maybe more for sativas since they flower longer.

Your reasoning is logical and makes sense but I can't help but wonder if it's really not applicable to flowering? People often make the wrong associations. For example, there is a method out there that claims to improve plant growth thru bird song. The idea is the sound vibrations trigger the plant to transpire in the morning when bird song tends to be more prevelent. They believe the plants learned over years to respond to those sound vibrations as a cue that conditions were good for transpiration. This could be flawed though. It is more reasonable to assume that the plants learned to respond to other cues like the rising sun, dew on the plants, cooler morning temps etc. It is also more reasonable to assume that the birds also respond to these conditions and therefore the bird song/plant growth connection is more likely to just be coincidence and have no real connection.

I not saying the moon phase thing has no merit what so ever but it may not be as crucial as some think. The aspect of how it effects germination makes alot of sense and it's reasonable to assume the plants would cue on how the moon effects the watertable. It also makes sense it would play a roll in things like prunning as that's an act involving interaction between man and plant and so evolution would not likely be a factor given man's newness evolutionarily speaking.

I definately think you should do that thread if you can find the time and if you do make that thread and can remember when you do, please let me know as I'd be interested in checking it out. I'm sure many would appreciate it because there are many folks who try to coordinate with the moon.

 

[HempKat]

my passive in take works well, checked with lighter to see where air moves. evertythings fine there i think.
i have some lightleaks & possible smell leaks?? maybe theres the problem?
i dont think scrubber is too small. i used some calculation here,
damn this is bad.

and my temps now stay 86F . daytime, later it drops little. and when lights out theres no problem.
so i wonder that i really should find some glasscuting shop and make somekind aircooled hood.
friend argues or wonders that if cannabis naturally grow in very hot climates and in greenhouses for example, where temps may rise way more than 86f . so he tells if cannabis grow there why shouldnt it work for cab?
dunno, i think intresting question so ask you guys, smarter ones.
do plants dont grow or just grow slower in hot climate?
how u monitor your temps? maybe im doing it wrong lol, but i dont think.
if i have termometer right where plants (theres yet free space around them, on top of the soil) and ligh shines straight to termometer.
or should i check it in shadow, like near wall or?

im high right now, so if this is readable (dunno gramm.)and someone would help me . this would be real nice.

If you're sure you have light leaks then I would try sealing up those areas. If they're big enough and you have a fan in there circulationg the air, it's conceivable the fan blows little wiffs of odor out of those leaks. You'll need to seal up those leaks anyway since they can possibly cause your plants to hermie when you go to flower. So I'd try that first. If that's not it then I'm not sure what to tell you though maybe a flaw in how you built the scrubber?

As for what your friend is saying. Yes it is true that temps get higher then 75 to 85 degrees in most places where marijuana grows naturally but you can't compare the inside of a small box with a light putting out dry heat, to the mountains of Columbia for example. In nature plants can develope a much more extensive network of roots then it can in a grow box sitting in a pot. This gives the plants the ability to handle more heat stress then in a grow room.

 

[alk_loid]

thankyou hemopkat, ill try to fix leaks asap.

but will plants be still growing? if the light not too near them, just little hotter .

 

[supersonic]

a question for old farts...

what is cause for that- seeds pop, then they grow the other way they should: roots out of the dirt and those first leaves into the dirt??? it only happened with Maroc, and i wanna grow it again and avoid that... 3 or 4 out of 10 did that, and when manualy fixed, they died...

thanks for answer...

peace

 

[alk_loid]

how u monitor your temps? maybe im doing it wrong lol, but i dont think.
if i have termometer right where plants (theres yet free space around them, on top of the soil) and ligh shines straight to termometer.
or should i check it in shadow, like near wall or?

anyone?

 

[HempKat]

thankyou hemopkat, ill try to fix leaks asap.

but will plants be still growing? if the light not too near them, just little hotter .

If you mean hotter because you say it's 86 degrees F. now, then yeah they'll still grow. That's about as warm as I'd like to see a grow get though because above that the plant is liable to experience heat stress. The problem with heat stress is that as a form of stress it can potentially cause your plants to hermie. It can also kill off leaves as they try to cope with the heat. If too many leaves die off then that will slow down growth. At 86 degrees F. though you should still be okay.

 

[HempKat]

a question for old farts...

what is cause for that- seeds pop, then they grow the other way they should: roots out of the dirt and those first leaves into the dirt??? it only happened with Maroc, and i wanna grow it again and avoid that... 3 or 4 out of 10 did that, and when manualy fixed, they died...

thanks for answer...

peace

I can't say what causes it for sure. In theory the seed should be able to sense gravity and grow the roots down. One possible explaination is the soil is packed too tight making it difficult for the roots to grow into the soil. When filling a pot with soil you should never pack the dirt. Rather just fill the pot with the soil without packing and then tap the bottom of the pot a few times to make the soil settle (the soil level should drop about a half inch after you tap it a few times). I like to then fill it back to the top with loose soil but I don't tap it the second time but rather I water the soil until it starts to drain a little. The water will also cause the soil to settle a bit more.

Another possibility is seed placement in the soil. Again the seed in theory should be able to sense gravity and grow the root downward, however this doesn't always happen and when it doesn't happen it's usually because the germinated seed was placed in the soil with the tap root pointing up. Seeds should be planted about a half inch deep. What I do is germinate them until a little tap root emerges from the seed then I take a pen or pencil and make a half inch deep hole in the soil and drop the seed in with the tap root pointing down and then I fill the hole it a little loose soil. Below is a graphic to help with seed placement.

 

[HempKat]

anyone?

Sorry I missed answering the tempurature question before. Ideally you want to be measuring temps at the top of the plant or what is called the canopy. You should also have it as directly under the light as possible but the thermometer should ideally be placed so that it is shaded. The device I use to measure temps has a probe attached by a wire to the part where you read the temps. This is what's known as an indoor/outdoor thermometer. The wire and probe is to allow the probe to be placed outside and connect to where you read the temps thru a window. The probe has a little wire hanger which is to allow you to attach the probe to an outside wall. What I do is use this hanger to hook the probe on the stem of one of the upper leaves. The hanger is just long enough to have the probe shaded by the leaf. This allows it to be where it should be without it being directly exposed to the light.

So the answer is you want the thermometer as close to the top of the plants as possible, directly under the light and not exposed directly to the light if possible.

 

[alk_loid]

maybe i could make little umbrella sort of thingy to my termometer.

when directly exposed to light temps might be much higher? ill try to find something.

 

[HempKat]

maybe i could make little umbrella sort of thingy to my termometer.

when directly exposed to light temps might be much higher? ill try to find something.

To be honest I'm not sure, I doubt it makes a huge difference but I think the issue is you get some radiant heat from the light when it's exposed and when it's not you just get the ambient tempurature.

 

[NorCalFor20]

Hi all, I wanted to ask your opinions on my soil mix and at what ratios it should be mixed at? any any other suggestions are welcome.


-organic potting soil

-earthworm castings

-pearlite

-vermiclite

-bone,blood,kelp,feather,alfalfa,cottonseed meal

-glacial rock dust

-diatomaceous earth

-mushroom compost

 

[alk_loid]

but what matter more for plant? ambient or radiant?

il post some pictures soon.

 

[HempKat]

Hi all, I wanted to ask your opinions on my soil mix and at what ratios it should be mixed at? any any other suggestions are welcome.


-organic potting soil

-earthworm castings

-pearlite

-vermiclite

-bone,blood,kelp,feather,alfalfa,cottonseed meal

-glacial rock dust

-diatomaceous earth

-mushroom compost

Sounds like a good mix. I've worked with stuff like that before but unfortunately at the time I was working with someone else who was teaching me and he handled all that stuff. Also unfortunately things abruptly changed in my life back then and I lost contact with the guy and never bothered to learn more about it.

What I can tell you is most container soil mixes whether they be just store bought soil mixed with perlite or an organic mix like that, they usually are 60/40 soil/perlite. Another thing is that while vermiculite serves a purpose it is not crucial, you could eliminate it and just add that much more perlite and be fine. You may want to consider that because I just recently learned that where they get vermiculite from there tends to be alot of asbestos there as well and so there is a good chance there is asbestos in the vermiculite. I don't know if asbestos is harmful for plants but I do know it's harmful for humans. I'd only use it now if I knew it was asbestos free.

Another thing I can tell you and you may already know this if you figured that list out on you own rather then take it from a recipe, but when mixing a soil like that, it is best to compost it. That is mix it together into a pile, wet it now and then (especially if you keep it in a container rather then just leave it in a pile on the ground), let it sit for a while (a few weeks), and stir/mix it every few days. This allows the soil to "cook" which essentially is the elements sort of blending together and breaking down a little such that the plant will be able to immediately access some of the nutrients. It is called cooking I believe because as the elements interact, especially if there is an active bio-herd of beneficial microbes the soil will actually generate some heat. Enough to release a bit of steam on a cool day if you stir it outdoors.

Another thing is I noticed you don't have any dolomite lime in the mix, aka garden lime. Dolomite lime provides three benefits. First and perhaps most important is it buffers the soil ph to around 7 which helps prevent ph issues. The other two benefits is it is a natural source of calcium and magnesium which are both micronutrients that are important to a plant's health and ability to grow. Now I'm not familiar with glacial rock dust so I'm not sure what that adds to the mix, it may also provide some or all of those benefits. If you do decide to use garden lime the standard ratio is 1 table spoon per gallon of soil mix (meaning one gallon of soil, perlite and everything else already mixed together).

The only other tip I can think of is that if you'll be using that to grow plants from seed, then you may want to make a smaller batch of soil and perlite and lime but none or little of the other stuff to serve as a starter soil and then transplant into the richer soil after the seedling is better established.

 

[HempKat]

but what matter more for plant? ambient or radiant?

il post some pictures soon.

Well it's not really a matter of which is more important for the plant. What's important is the ambient tempurature as far as judging the tempurature of the grow. You deal with radient temperature more by maintaining a safe distance between plant and light by adjusting the light as the plant grows or by training or topping a plant to slow it's vertical growth.

Radient heat is more worth worrying about at the point of it's origin. I'm not positive but I believe the surface of the bulb with many HPS and MH lights, gets about 700 degrees F. I've seen a leaf touch the surface of a 1000W for just a second and the instant it was pulled away you could see where it burned even though it took a couple of days for that area to turn crisp. The heat cools off quickly in the same way the light energy the plants want dies off, that is that every time a given distance from the source doubles, the energy drops by a factor of 4. Or to put it another way the energy rapidly decreases as it radiates from the source hence, radient energy or heat.

That's why cool tubes and air cooled lights are so desirable, the eliminate alot of that radient heat, which lets you get much closer. Although you can still get too close as too much light intensity will bleach a plant's leaves.

 

[PrideofCucamong]

Whats up Kat. I have my 400w HPS about a foot away from my plants, and i have a fan right next to it filtering the air out of the grow room. It keeps the room a nice temp. Do you think i could get it a little closer to my plants? I am not sure where exactly to keep it. My plants have been under all fluorescent light for a month. Should i keep the light pretty far so they can get used to it, or just blast em? Thanks for any help!