2nd time ever and going well!

[SlowToke]

This is my second go around.

My first attempts were quite shaky as to I was actually doing more to the plants, than reading and learning about WHAT to do to the plants. wrong lights, poor containers, heat stress etc etc etc haha.

Well after reading quite a bit more and planning out my second grow, I decided to go with a stealth rubbermaid growbox, which I thought was just nifty :cool:

Well my box isnt too stealthy anymore - seeing as how my puny fans couldnt pick up the slack and expel the heat my 6x42watt cfls were producing. I decided to cut a flap away from the right side of the bin and place my standing floor face directly next to that, gaining much airflow and steadying temperatures around 80.9 at the warmest.

Yes, that's my homemade reflector you're looking at in the second picture. I'm quite proud of my well spent time configuring it, while on a nice spliff.
And dont worry - it's not resting directly on the lights - its hanging, avoiding fire hazards is just as important as anything else right?

Planted Sept 3rd, sprouted days later. All badseed.

Each plant is in an empty 2litre bottle with the top cut off - yes yes i know its not nearly enough room for these guys but I figured I'm working with the space I have, and if I could manage to get 3 plants from seedling to harvest in disposable party cups... this has got to be a whole hell of a lot better.

The soil is a 1:2 perlite to gardenplus top soil - which doesnt contain any fertilizer in it.

A few weeks ago (approx. 3) some Miracle Grow ferts (30-10-10) were added (yes yes i know miracle grow is a disaster for some but the numbers I liked and the price was even better! and not to mention convenience..

Well 3 of the plants just went to hell from the ferts - wayyy too sensitive to them I suppose, seeing as how I've evenly fed all the plants every watering period.

Also I noticed a slight overdosing of N (dark fan leaves) on some of my plants so I flushed a bit with some tap water and everything seems to be OK :jointsmile:

Also the plants have been LST'd - as with my first grow. After seeing good results in many of these forums I decided to do a SOG setup moreso than individually tieing down each plant. All the plants have grown through the screen now - but it did its job enough at the time to level off the canopy more than it was so I'm satisfied with it.

This go around has been muchhhhh smoother thanks to some better planning and lots of reading here and of course Jorge's Bible.

Let me know what you guys think!! :thumbsup:

[Dutch Pimp]

adjusting to problems is half the battle...looks pretty good...:thumbsup:

How long in the 2 liter bottles?...watch for total rootbound and transplant into a bigger size container when possible. Plants like fresh soil.

Good Luck

[Loafyboy]

They are looking gorgeous in that third pic, nice and healthy. Keep up the good work Toke! :thumbsup:

[Rubberbubbler]

I like your power strip light reflector I never even thought of that:thumbsup:

[freezerweed]

zip ties are like duct tape, use them for everything :thumbsup:

[SlowToke]

Good to hear.

Been in the 2 Liters for awhile now, not sure how long exactly. They went from small seedling peat pots, to normal drinking size party cups for approx 2 weeks, to their current and most likely last home of these bottles.

Like I said, I know that 2 liter bottles do not give the plants the amount of room that would be optimum, but I don't think I should have any problems getting this round threw harvest with some decent results.

Reason why they are in 2 liters? well I started with 15 plants.. course they weren't showing prefowers at the time of transplanting into the 2liters and I didn't want to throw away half of them, only to realize I have 1-2 females. So I managed to squeeze 14 of those bad boys in there, minus the 3 from fert burns (after the transplant).

I had to work with the space I had, which is why I WILL NOT use another rubbermaid setup. Don't get me wrong, its and ingenious idea and works well.. but for me, I think having more room to work in will help substantially, not to mention smaller areas + more lights = more heat problems.

I'm planning after harvesting this crop to make another grow room, with a larger footprint. Possibly... 4'x6' and with still bagseed, but some choice seeds, could even been a strain - I have no clue, I just know I got in some of the dankest bud that I've seen in awhile and managed to pluck a few seeds from some the bag. The color of the bud itself had hints of white in it, extremely potent, and smoked smooth as hell.

Anyway yes for my next grow I was thinking about an area approx 4'x6' and keeping only a mere 4 plants or so. But LARGE PLANTS!! lol. I'm going with an HID setup this time, not sure of the wattage (either 400w or 600w) and also I had thought about tackling some DWC :D Ive seen amazing results with a small and what looks to be surprisingly simple setup.

I plan on veging under my same 6x42w CFLs' on my next go around only for a few weeks, then to switch to an HID setup - MH for veg, HPS for flower.

Tell me what you all think please!! thanks!

[Dutch Pimp]

Have you sexed your plants yet? ...have you switched to 12/12 lighting yet?

[SlowToke]

I've sexed a few but not all of them. I'm thinking most are female - I have what looks to be a Sativa dominant plant which is female 100%, other then that the rest show female looking preflowers.

I'm waiting a bit longer before I switch to 12/12 for more prominent preflowers to appear (the white pistils, not just the calyx)

Either way if I sex them all or not I was planning to turn back the lights come Nov. 5. And harvest new years :D

[SlowToke]

Update:

As of today i've identified a total of 9 female plants out of 11 (preflowers show pistils visible to the naked eye) :D

As far as the unidentified two, one seems to be showing the characteristics of a female preflower, the other i'm on the fence about.

10 out of 11 wouldn't be so disappointing - after all I started with a total of 15 plants, destroyed one due to lack of space, and 3 more died due to hypersensitivity to the nutrients being administered. (haha elaboration is my forte :jointsmile:)

The last pic (0007) is an experimental FIM'd plant, there's a large fan leaf blocking the view of its beautiful nodal growth coming from just below the lowest visible node. I'll be sure to get it from another angle on their next photo shoot.

HERES SOME PICS!

[SlowToke]

Here's some more - apologies on the side-views on the last few.

[SlowToke]

moreee.

[SlowToke]

Planning to turn the lights back in 9 more days (Nov. 5)

This should give the girls 8 weeks to flower till new years.

Come Nov.5 they will have had 9 weeks from planting that they've grown in 18/6 under my cfls. Ill be continuing to flower them under the same CFLs through harvest - but knowing me that could change... I always want more light :thumbsup:

Just hoping to get a decent yield from this setup.

[Loafyboy]

Planning to turn the lights back in 9 more days (Nov. 5)

This should give the girls 8 weeks to flower till new years.

Come Nov.5 they will have had 9 weeks from planting that they've grown in 18/6 under my cfls. Ill be continuing to flower them under the same CFLs through harvest - but knowing me that could change... I always want more light :thumbsup:

Just hoping to get a decent yield from this setup.

Hi Toke, just a quick question, do you know what spectrum your current CFL bulbs are? In the pics they look quite cool like a blue spectrum (although could just be the way the pics came out), probably 5000k upward. For flower you will want to get some warm spectrum (red) around 2700k as it will significantly increase your yield/potency. At least that is what I'm lead to believe.

Plus more light should also increase yield etc. but I guess that will also mean more heat. :thumbsup:

[SlowToke]

My bulbs are 2700k spectrum so ill be fine for flowering.

The blue shading is due to the flash.

Heat is not an issue, I've got sufficient airflow to keep temps in a safe range.


Thanks for the input, advise is always welcome and much appreciated :)

[SlowToke]

Hi all:) I turned the lady back on Nov 1, they are beginning their 5th week of flowering and are looking great, got seven total in the small area.:thumbsup:

pics 1-4 nice colas
last pic is the whole grow box, top part of box is sitting on the bed.

hopefully can harvest around Christmas or maybe new years :rastasmoke:

I'm so excited! comment always accepted and appreciated!

[rob25san]

Very nice first pic! Whats the room temp range your using?

[SlowToke]

Temperature ranges from 71ish to 80ish.

[freezerweed]

Damn you would think there would be more people following this, seven plants in such a tight area:)
nice buds and resin :thumbsup: and its just bagseed?

kudos to you on your spliffy box you got goin:jointsmile:

[superskunk1]

very nice grow setup. i have a setup like this as well using 2 18 gallon bins although i placed one upside down on top of the other.

Looking at the way your plants are growing makes me feel more comfortable about placing 8 pots with 1 seed in each one hopefully to produce 8 healthy plants in such a small bin.

[monny10]

Nice grow Slowtoke! :thumbsup:

Good luck! I hope you get some good weight off those ladies!

[Jeremy173]

Looks good.

[mainegrown]

i have been following. looks nice

[SlowToke]

Hey guys, here's a few more pics for you.

I'm approaching the end of the 8th week of flowering with the girls. The pics taken were on on the 19th. Unfortunately I found a hermi slightly too late and the damn thing let off 2 pollen sacks, and spread a few seeds to each of the plants :mad:

It's not too bad, a seed here and there that's visible.. ill see how it looks inside after harvest.

Do you all know the smell of those little candy bracelets that you used to have and eat as a child? it came on a stretchy band? well I swear to you that one of the plants smells exactly like it haha.

Other than that there are other plants with their own distinct smells as well, one of them smells of pineapple and another simply smells of fruit. And of course there's a very skunky smelling plant as well, keep in mind this was bagseed, so all of you bagseed growers best of luck with great results and good smelling bud :stoned:

[Shovelhandle]

I just saw this post. Nice grow. I hope you covered the red pilot lights on those power strips (if there are any) Can cause hermies.

And I wish I could smell all the distink odors all you folks can discern from your plants. Mine all smell like...pot.

[mainegrown]

I just saw this post. Nice grow. I hope you covered the red pilot lights on those power strips (if there are any) Can cause hermies.

And I wish I could smell all the distink odors all you folks can discern from your plants. Mine all smell like...pot.
i feel you shov... i only ever smell POT!!
lol still looking nicce ST.
-J

[SlowToke]

Hey thanks guys and gals. Yeah I wish you could smell them too! :D

Yep I never even thought of the red light on the power strip, though the hermi was more like.. I found an all female plant with 2-3 male pollen sacks on it total, so it wasn't that bad at all. (I SURE DO HOPE SO!)


More pics soon to come!