Hank's big bud cabinet grow
Technically this is my second grow attempt, that is if it counts when you grow a tall skinny male plant for a year and wonder why it never produces bud.
This time I'm trying to make it happen by learning as much as I can. Hope to get some tips from the experts on this thread. I've tried to read as much as I can find on websites.
For lights I'm going with two cheap 5-socket lights from Menards. Into these I put seven 23W daylight CFLs (6000K), and three 23W soft white CFLs (2300K). I'm trying to encourage vegetative growth with the extra blue spectrum of the daylight bulbs.
There is some heat coming off these lights. First time I closed the 34"(W) x 18"(D) x 38"(H) with the lights on the temp went to 96. Leaves also started to burn. So I added a desktop fan inside for circulation, and wired an exhaust fan from an old desktop computer to an old cell phone adapter. This blows the air out of the cabinet through a hole I made on the side of the cabinet. Now the temp is 84 and the plants look good to me. Keep the lights on 24/7 now, about 2" from the plants.
I germinated in jiffy pots and 9 of 10 big bud seeds from AMS grew. I went with big bud because they seem decent but don't have the big odor that some more potent strains have. Gotta keep this under the radar.
When roots started to poke out of the jiffy pots I moved them to 6" round pots and filled them with Miracle Gro moisture control potting soil. Went with the moisture control because it's supposed to hold water better and I'll have to travel and leave them for 4-5 days at a time.
Anyone ever tried these things at garden supply shops that water automatically? looks like they use a bottle with a special tip that you stick into the dirt and the nozzle lets just the right amount of water out as the plant needs it. I haven't tried them but would if someone says they work.
I water them with tap water that's been sitting out overnight to remove the chlorine. Water every 3-4 days, cause that's when they're dry at the bottom. Water only, no nutes right now because the miracle gro has nutes good for 30 days so they say.
So far I think the results look pretty good. Looks like a lot of really green vegetative growth. not much stem elongation yet. But that's fine. I'm trying to limit the height anyway because my cabinet is less than 4 feet tall. Would like to know what others think. I'll upload some pics as soon as I figure it out.
Hank's big bud cabinet grow
Here's what they look like at 3 weeks. Only 4-5 inches tall, but seems like plenty of leafy vegetative growth. I'm starting to lean them to the side with LST.
Hank's big bud cabinet grow
yep, those plants look nice. :)
there are a few tricks if you cannot be around to water them, like placing the pots on a towle in a tray and using something as a wick (like a peice of rope or a strip of twisted cotton t-shirt) running from a bucket of water to the towle - this will draw water up and keep the pots moist for a week or so. If you can get the temps down a bit more that will help with the water situation too.
watch out for that soil - MJ will use up the fert quicker than the pack says because you're intensively cultivating the plant under artificial light as opposed to a house plant, which grows a lot more slowly - I reckon you should think about mild ferts after two/three weeks, the plant will soon let yoi know if it needs anything. You may want to invest in a PH meter as well.
good luck.
Hank's big bud cabinet grow
Quote:
So far I think the results look pretty good. Looks like a lot of really green vegetative growth. not much stem elongation yet. But that's fine. I'm trying to limit the height anyway because my cabinet is less than 4 feet tall. Would like to know what others think. I'll upload some pics as soon as I figure it out.
Well, first off i have to say well done, looks like they have settled in nicely, instead of sayin stem elongation, just call it stretching, and its usually a bad thing, (nothing to worry about tho) but so far they arent stretched at all, so your doing great and try to keep them the same distance from the light as they are now, obviously a couple Cm's further away wont matter, but the closer your plants are, the more lumens they consume. good job fixing the heat problem, and like emmpey says, its a good idea to get a pH meter of some sorts too.
One last handy tip, you said you use tap water that has been sat for 24hrs, well if you can, its a good idea to use RAIN water, its full of minerals and goodness, and doesnt need sitting, just put a CLEAN container in your back garden and take it from that, if you can, pH test it, and your plants will thank you for it...
Anyways, good job so far, ill check back soon, Good luck....;)
Hank's big bud cabinet grow
Thanks to both of you for the tips! I'm going to start the ferts soon and use rain water when I have some. I'll pick up a pH meter too.
I'm itching to get some smoke out of these. Is 4 weeks too soon to start flowering? I don't mind if I don't get small harvest this round cause I'm planning to clone them soon anyway.
Hank's big bud cabinet grow
[QUOTE hank the tank;1109894]Technically this is my second grow attempt, that is if it counts when you grow a tall skinny male plant for a year and wonder why it never produces bud.[END QUOTE]
That made me laugh.
I had something to add....I've heard that when you use rain water you have to add calcium and magnesium...isn't that true? Just wanted to mention that if were thinking of using it....I'm sure someone will chime in....
Hank's big bud cabinet grow
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I'm itching to get some smoke out of these.
yeah, we're all like that here bro :)
4 weeks is the absolute minimum, hang on for 40 days if you can. even better would be to wait until you have alternating leaves which is a sign the plant has fully matured.
if you flowered yours now you would only be looking at around 1/8 - 1/4 oz per plant - wait two weeks and it'll be more like 1/2 oz or better. a good compromise would be if you could flower a couple to smoke early and let the rest carry on vegging.
Hank's big bud cabinet grow
Quote:
yeah, we're all like that here bro
4 weeks is the absolute minimum, hang on for 40 days if you can. even better would be to wait until you have alternating leaves which is a sign the plant has fully matured.
if you flowered yours now you would only be looking at around 1/8 - 1/4 oz per plant - wait two weeks and it'll be more like 1/2 oz or better. a good compromise would be if you could flower a couple to smoke early and let the rest carry on vegging.
/\ lol he means alternating nodes :)
as for using rain water and needing to add stuff, thats just fools talk, when you give the plant rain water you give it alot more stuff that tap water never had, and if you had to give it calcium too, plants wouldnt grow in the wild so well now would they?!? lol nah, if you use rain water and your plants get some kind of defficiency, if it makes you feel better use tap water once... simple...:)
Hank's big bud cabinet grow
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Originally Posted by emmpey
yeah, we're all like that here bro :)
4 weeks is the absolute minimum, hang on for 40 days if you can. even better would be to wait until you have alternating leaves which is a sign the plant has fully matured.
if you flowered yours now you would only be looking at around 1/8 - 1/4 oz per plant - wait two weeks and it'll be more like 1/2 oz or better. a good compromise would be if you could flower a couple to smoke early and let the rest carry on vegging.
Good words of knowledge their. However One of the peak times for the bloom cycle is after the Cannabis plant has had it's full run in Veg..
example: You might soon relize (if you put much time into it), that Cannabis has many diffrent growth stage's. At the start the plant spits out a single pair, the the next is a pair with 3 finger's, ect. After this set's in you might get lucky and find some pre-flower's. Then alternating node's kick in. Then in most case's, what usually follow's a short time after...the plant will exibit(sp?), more ,and more finger's on set's of leave's as the plant gets older. It's like a whole nother growth spurt! And finally the plant will produce it's normal pattern, which tells you the strech won't be all that bad, and bud production will be optimal for weight. Given the right condition's.
I have witness'd this on every strain grown.
However whats weird is this seems to not happen if I take a cutting from this plant and start a batch of clones. the clones won;t go through this second growth spurt for some reason.
I had some bag-seed-Sativa's afew years ago, that had a handfull of leave's the size of steering wheel's, and by the end of the second growth spurt she would only produce the standerd 9 finger leaf pattern, all exact in size, and structure, measuring roughly 6" at best. never again did she produce anything other then that. While growing under a diffrent light I topped the other sativa before the second growth spurt, and used the cutting as a mother, the resultant clones never went through the second stage.
This hasn't been a one time example either.
Anyway just thought I'd throw in a comment. Other then that.....Nice job:thumbsup:
