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Hey man, I noticed that you must have had quite a bit of money to put into this!! I did the same thing on my first grow and because I did I had great results! That along with doing my homework really helped. I more than made all my money back. Anyway, good luck............oh, and I dont mean made my money back selling what I grew, I mean the money I saved smoking my own!:thumbsup:
Hi lebeef - I don't have a bottomless bank account, but I have committed to spending what it takes to produce some decent results. I would have really liked to go for one of those complete systems, you just plug it in, and add seeds, so to speak. Those were upwards of $3000, and a lot higher if you wanted to go for the flowering and vegetative chambers. My goal is to have two cabinets going at one time, with one being the cloning/vegetative and the other flowering. For now, this new one will serve as the flowering and vegetative, but eventually become the flowering. After assembling all of this, I found that swapping the lights would be too much of a pain for each cycle. I hope to make the money back, as you pointed out - in money I'm not spending on buying weed. My goal for this first grow is two ounces. That's should cover about a third of what I've put out so far.
I've attached an updated photo of the cabinet. This one has everything installed except the mylar and the fan. I'm still struggling with where to mount the fan. Once I get that fan mounted, I'm going to try to go into flowering within the next week, and move the plants in. Hopefully, adding the T5 lamp to the side will help mitigate the absence of mylar.
Speaking of plants - they are growing really well. The leader has a stem of almost 1/4" in diameter. There are new leaves every morning. They range from 9 to 11" in height. All have at least five nodes.
Hello Joe-Grow, I'm a fellow neophyte midway through his own first grow and log. I've popped by to say, firstly, excellent start and setup!
Secondly I'd like to ask a question about your cabinet. How's sound transference though the metal? I bought the particle board model partly because I imagined it'd dampen fan noise. Has it been an issue, or is the steel shell less resonant than I'd thought?
Hi CCIE ... thanks for the kudos. To answer your question, the cabinet is not very good for soundproofing the exhaust fan. I bought particle board first, as well, for sound and reflective surface. However, I could not find one that was both wide and deep enough for my gear. The cabinet was a change of direction from my original plan of getting a hydrohut. Availablity of the hut made me change directions, since I had already started. The cabinet is stored in a utility room. So, for now, I intend to say that the noise is just the HVAC.
Status update on the cabinet - it's up and running. However, I hit a small snag. The HPS system would not power up. According to the instructions, it will not power up if the bulb or the wiring are bad. Well, I checked the wiring for over an hour, and could not come up with anything. The first hood didn't work when tested at the store either. I suspect this one is faulty as well. I didn't like it much - thought it was pretty cheap. I think I'll take this one back, and pick up a Hydro Farm hood. After this amount of time, I will probably have to eat the cost of this one.
To compensate, I installed the T5 lamp at the top for now. The lamp I have uses 4 - 24" cool tubes, 6500K. If I can not get to the hydro shop beforehand, I may have to start flowering with what I have. My question is whether I'll produce anything? I've seen another post where someone is going through their whole grow cycle with the T5 lamps. However, I believe they used a mixture of cool and warm bulbs. Will it matter that much, not to have the warm bulbs? They seem to be growing very well now, but I understand that flowering is a whole other process. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Attached are a couple of updated photos. The first is the full cabinet. The second is a close-up of the plants. They are growing fast and consuming a lot of water. I upped their nutrients two nights ago to 2/3 strength. I'm hoping to go to full strength within the next couple days during a water resevoir change. I now have a ppm of ~930 (total).
As tall as they are now, and as thick as their stems are - should I plan to go into flowering soon? It's been over a month since my seeds were first planted in the starter cubes. I understand that after they switch to the flowering stage, that they will continue to grow. I think they average about 13" now, and I could probably handle another 12" or so. They are growing fast though. The second picture was taken around 1AM (about 12 hours ago). I just checked, and they are now within a couple inches of the lamp already.
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You really should LST those gals, you can tell the light isn't penetrating very far down, or get some side lights. Otherwise, they're pretty and healthy.
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Nice grow Joe. :thumbsup: They're looking nice and green. I would remove some of the interior leaves so more light gets into the branches.
It looks like our grows are more than just chronologically parallel. My own new electronic ballast is refusing to fire bulbs regardless of type or known-good status. I gave up on it and bought a cheap magnetic replacement for this run's flowering stage (which had best arrive soon).
In my case I suspect the ballast's igniter is faulty. Does a proximity voltage meter register power flowing through the bulb when you plug it in?
Hi faithless - yes, I think you're right, as close as they are, and as big as the canopy is getting, light is going to be a problem. My plan was to use the T5 lamp for side lighting. However, my HPS decided to not work, so I'm stuck with the T5 until I can get back to the hydro store.
Hi PTS - thanks for the tip. Will cutting out leaves have any adverse effect? I've exchanged a couple messages earlier in this thread about pruning, and it came up about the leaves being important to leave on. Should I LST, as faithless suggested, instead? I think I'm going to try to at least lean them outward to see if that helps. The lower leaves are definitely looking less healthy as time passes.
Hi CCIE - I'm not sure if it's my ballast or not. It did work at the shop before I purchased it. Then again, the whole setup worked before I left the store. I may see if I can get some warm bulbs for the T5 and ride this one out with that. There's another thread of someone using the T5 lamp, even through flowering. I've not tried the proximity voltage meter, since I don't have one. Even if I did, I'm not sure I would know how to use it. :o When I flip the power on the system, I could hear a slight phlit-like sound (think of the penguin or cat from Bloom County). If the holiday guests don't get too demanding, or stay too long, I am going to try to make it to the hydro shop this weekend for mylar and replacement parts for the HPS. I hope you can get yours working soon! How many weeks are you into your grow?
By this weekend, I plan to change the water, up the nutrients to full strength, and switch to the 12/12 cycle. They are growing very fast now. I've read that using aeroponics, and T5 lamps would cause accelerated growth, but in the last two weeks, it's been amazing. They have tripled sized and leaf/node growth.
Attached is today's photo. Thanks for dropping by. :)
Howdy Joe-grow - for the sake of streamlining I'll answer the question you asked in my old cab thread here.
(I moved my active log to http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=84094 The older one's been relegated to just a cabinet description.)
The cabinet is a standard Lowes C22 46" wide, 20" deep, 6-foot model, and is the cheaper version of the one Jamstigator used when making his iconic original. There are pictures of his in this thread, 15th post: http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=86903
Lowes isn't the only store that carries them. A "C22 cabinet" Google search shows numerous regional and internet suppliers. Fan noise outside the cabinet is muted but audible - about equal to a well-ventilated computer with an open case. Be warned that the packed unit is herniatingly heavy. I've been a serious weightlifter for 15 years, and carrying that box through the twists of my house left my knees buckling.
As for your Phhhlit-ing ballast, I say buy the guests some movie tickets and sneak off to the shop to get it working. :dance:
I've got my own replacement working, and the light penetration is amazing! I think the fellow who grows with T-5 only has 12-16 lights arrayed all around his grow space.
As for which week I'm in, I suppose week 4 since that's when I actually managed to grow a plant over 2", but I'd been trying since the end of September. :o
Hi CCIE ... Thanks for the response here. I would have gone to check your thread, but thanks all the same. I knew you had started another grow thread, but my question was specific to your grow box. That's why I posted there.
I looked around at my local Lowes, but could not find a cabinet 20" deep. That's why I went for the office supply cabinet. :( I'll just have to make due with this one for a while. The cost of this 'project' has approached $1500, and I've yet to show anything for my effort. It was tough getting my wife to buy into the idea at $1000 estimated costs.
I know what you mean about heavy. Now, I've not been the weightlifter you have. At least not in the last decade. But, I believe it's safe to say that my cabinet was pretty damn heavy. Fortunately, I had someone help me carry it to the basement. Delivery guy left it at the door. The first cabinet, which was that fantastic particle board, was even heavier, and that was at least 50% smaller. I can only imagine what yours must have felt like.
It seems that things are getting worse. I was never able to get away from the holiday guests, and visit my local hydro shop. Subsequently, I was not able to replace my Phhhit-ing ballast. As a temporary measure, I've lined the cabinet with a reflective insulation, Reflectix.
CCIE, you've been growing a little longer than I have. I started around mid-October. I had great success at first, but things are looking like trouble now. My plants grew very quickly, once they shed their shells. Now, I'm not sure if I have lighting deficiencies, bugs, or nutrient amount problems.
I went to full nutrients last Wednesday, along with a new supply of water. In addition, I switched to flowering schedule (12/12). The plants were getting too big, and I was worried I'd run out of cabinet height. Since I've switched, one of them seems determined to outgrow the cabinet. So far, no flowers, and no gender indications.
The first photo is all the plants in their current environment. I attempted to spread them out with wire ties, as was sorta suggested by faithless with the LST comment. I thought that might help get some more light to the lower leaves. You can also notice a lot of drooping branches, and dying leaves.
The second photo is a close up of the center of the plants. I still seem to have some healthy looking leaves & stems. The bad ones are increasing, though. :(
The third photos is a close up of the tallest plant. It has some pieces missing from it. I'm not sure if this is getting too close to the T5 lamp, or if I have bugs.
Sorry about the delay in updating this. I really haven't had much progress, except height and some more branches. I expect to see some flowers within the next week. I sure hope there is at least two females out of the four plants.
what happened to Zandor?? whats the story behind that did he get robbed because somone got his info. through his computer or somthing?
I had heard through his Podcast, or read it one of his postings about someone stealing his stash. I think that he believed the perpetrators obtained their information through his online activities. I'd have to go back and research a bit to get the exact details. I'm pretty sure you could find something if you wanted more detail, by searching on here.
I'm sorry to hear things have hit a snag. Perhaps its time to organize a Cannabis.com picket of the hydro store until they give you something that works.
:cursing:
Regarding the stretching and drooping, I hesitate to make suggestions given my track record, but the plants' issues look to my inexpert eye like lack of light and improper spectrum for flowering. I think Faithless meant for you to bend the plants literally horizontal, halving their height or more. Even thick stems'll take more flexing than I thought possible before trying. Below is one of mine that I'm re-training after a cat attack. Two days ago that stem was bent to nearly that angle in the opposite direction.
[attachment=o103595]
Brainstorming(drizzling) now...
I think if limited to one overhead T5 fixture I'd make a screen, find the point below which the stems can't be easily flexed, place pegs in the walls there, pull all the plants over with a hooked hand, put the screen in place, then arrange the plants under it to form a flat, filled canopy. Eyeballing the first picture, if our plants are similarly flexible I'll bet a 2" mesh screen at the level of the scribble would let you weave everything to the same height.
[attachment=o103598]
Then visit the hydro guy and pummel him with your faulty ballast until he coughs up a working HPS. :D Seriously, that light is liquid schwarz. This last week mine have been bent, chewed, squeezed and pruned, but they're greener than ever.
I think one of the older growers said switching to 12/12 before alternating nodes or preflowers appear is a stressor. Maybe that's delaying maturity? :confused:
Thanks for the info joe-grow and good luck with your grow :thumbsup:
Hi CCIE .... thanks for the suggestions. I took your advice and dragged my lazy butt to the shop to get my light replaced. It turned out to be the bulb. I was very careful with it, and hadn't even tried it until I needed it for flowering. I was told that particular bulb was sensitive. I wasn't sure if he meant that I hurt its feelings. :D So, he was really decent and gave me a replacement bulb, under warranty. The replacement bulb was just a standard 600w HPS. Made the trip worth it. I picked up some GH Kool Bloom while there. I debated about the mylar, but I'd already shelled out about the same cost for the Reflectix, so I left it for next time.
Lesson learned - have your cabinet ready to go, and all your hardware tested before you need it. This is especially important, if you haven't a shop close by, or you're going through mail order. I didn't think it would be a big deal to hold off on some items until needed, but I'm regretting it now.
I installed the light, and relocated the T5 lamp to the side of the cabinet. I didn't install the screen, as suggested, yet. For one, I'm a bit nervous to try it. For another, I'm not sure I have the skill to install it without doing more damage than good. Tonight I managed to break off a pretty healthy and large fan leaf. I'm not sure if I should trim the whole branch. For now, I just left it.
I also cleaned up the cabinet a bit, securing the Reflectix better. With the addition of the 600w HPS, it is really bright in there now. At first it doesn't come on very bright, but after a minute or so, wow! Hopefully that will give my poor ailing plants what they need to start production of some bud. To help things along, I added about half strength of the Kool Bloom. I should know better - change one thing at a time, and wait for results. Ok, so I'm human, and a little anxious.
After all this stress, I hope they all don't turn out males. That's the one downer - not only do I have to work very hard on this, and wait a while for results, but it may turn out to be for nothing. In any event, I'm amazed I've gotten this far. This attempt was mostly to learn. It's certainly been a lesson in patience.
No pictures today. It's not too pretty in there right now. I want to clean things up a little. I tried tying the plants to spread them apart, but the garden I'm using isn't cooperating. The mesh buckets are coming up, when I try to bend the plant too much. I had to place a bottle on one of them to weigh the thing down. I'll try to get some photos up before the end of the weekend.
Oh, CCIE, I knew what Faithless meant - LST, right? I've read about it around here. I'd love to try it - everyone that does, seems to love the production. I didn't prep enough to do that, both for the cabinet or with learning. I hope to try that for my second grow. What you're talking about is scrogging, right (with the screen)? I've heard that's pretty good too. I think someone you either linked me too, or someone that posted to your thread had mentioned doing that. I'm tired, and forgetting a lot right now. It's been a long day. If only I had something to toke to wrap it up right. Soon.
So, I got a chance to get some photos, but so far, they don't tell any good news. I'm afraid that I waited too long to switch to flowering - I let them grow too tall. Two plants had leaves that looked severely burnt. Fortunately, I believe those are the same plants which show signs of being male.
The first photo is of the cabinet with the new lighting arrangement. The remaining ones are close-ups of each of the plants. The first two appear to be showing the sacs that signify males. The second two, I'm not sure. Given that the first two are the fastest growing, and have the longest fan leaves, in addition to what appear to be the pollen sacs, I'm guessing that they are make. The remaining two are shorter in height, and in fan leaves, and haven't shown any of the sacs.
I'm in a bit of a bind now. If I remove the two that I believe are males, and the two remaining do not grow any taller, I should be ok. However, if they grow any taller, I'll have problems with them burning too. The new HPS light has raised the temperature to 80F during the light period, and the humidity has climbed to ~50RH. They consumed about a half gallon of water is only a day.
So .... anyone want to confirm the males for me? Once I've confirmed the males, I'll yank those out. That should create a lot less canopy and allow a lot more light to get to the remaining two. If they remaining two turn out to be females, I'll feel lucky. When I first started with my six seeds, I had figured I'd get at least two females. Hopefully, I wasn't aiming too high.
yeh man, hopin for females here.... dunno whether they are males though, too tired lol just woke up... good luck..
So today, I made an executive decision and pulled one of my plants. It was tough, and I don't just mean getting the roots out of the basket. After spending this amount of time looking after these things, from their start to now, I guess I got a little attached. I had to take him out, to save the remaining crop. I was pretty sure it was a male, given the amount of tiny sacs I noticed. The remaining three aren't clear yet. One more might be a male. There's no signs either way from the remaining two.
The remaining plants are looking good and bad. The ones that have grown the tallest are the ones currently getting the most leaves burned. I can't raise the HPS lamp any higher, and I can't bend the plants any more out of the way. I would really appreciate any suggesting on how to keep them from frying. The temperature in the cabinet has risen, but only 5 to 10 degrees F. It is usually around 75 to 80 F in there now. They are gulping down over a half a gallon a water a day now. I'm not sure if I should trim them down, or if that would make things worse. The addition of the HPS and moving the T5 to side lighting has improved the plants which fall below about 12" from the HPS. What about the fried leaves? Should I trim them off, or leave them for any benefit to the remaining plant?
I found a tip from Pass That Shit on his grow log, about using your hand to sample the effect of the lamp. It does get pretty warm within the first 12" under the HPS lamp. But the cabinet overall is pretty cool, considering all that heat right under the HPS lamp. I guess the circulation is working pretty good. I think I should have switched to flowering sooner, before they got so tall.
Oh, and any suggestions on what to do with my exiled plant? Should I just wrap it up and toss it in the garbage? How do people dispose of such material? I can't imagine anyone digging through the garbage, but I'd rather be safe, than busted.
I hadn't reckoned with the aeroponic system's fragility when suggesting bending the plants in half. The only way I can see to avoid burning is still to squash 'em horizontal, but how to do that if it upends the mesh buckets eludes me. Do you have someone local who can hold the stem steady while you lower a screen from above? It's not truly full-on SCRoG, but those overachievers look like they're itching to hit 6 feet otherwise. Perhaps start a thread in the plant problems forum; several of the gurus hang out there consistently and might have an idea.
Board consensus as far as I've read is to leave leaves be unless they are completely dead. I clipped foliage off of mine that a cat had mangled, and I'm still not sure it was wise.
Don't pitch the male! Chop him up, run him through a coffee grinder and cook him for a couple hours with 1/2 cup butter in a 200-degree oven. Make half a pan of brownies with the butter, eat it one sitting and report the results. I wanted to try it myself, but they all turned female ...which may have been an act of self preservation after seeing me standing over them with a stick of butter and a glint in my eye.
Hey CCIE, that was just what I needed, a good laugh. The thought of you standing there with a stick of butter was pretty funny.
Yeah, the garden turned out to be inconvenient for a couple reasons. The dimensions were such that I couldn't use the narrow cabinet I bought first. The baskets are another. Care and feeding isn't the easiest either. I need to risk damaging leaves and or stems to get my gallon jug close enough to the access hole. To remove the cover on the access hole, I need to pull the plug too (no power button). Otherwise water, water everywhere.
My next grow will be in a aeroponics garden I make myself. This was mainly to get me started, and give me an idea of how they work. I've seen enough plans on here to get me going with my own design. If I stick with these same bag seeds, I may go with SCRoG or LST since, as you pointed out, they have an affection for growing tall. As for this time, I really don't have anyone to assist with making the changes you suggest. This is top secret, except for the thousands of readers on this board. :cool: Nobody in real life knows about this. This was to minimize someone using it against me, or leading to a break in.
The other suspected male is also the same one getting fried before it's time, due to it's height. The remaining two seem short enough to take the heat. They'd better turn out to be female, or I might be trying your baking suggestion, CCIE. I've read many posts on here about making some use out of the males. I can't say that I buy into the thought of getting anything from them. Biologically, they don't have that much THC. Catching them early means that they haven't developed much in the flower department (hopefully) either. But given my lack of something to smoke, and how long it'll take to get another crop going, I might be tempted. I appreciate the suggestion. I just don't think I've gotten that desperate yet.
I don't think I'll need to stand over the remaining plants with a stick of butter. I think snapping my latex gloves might scare them into the correct gender. :)
"As for this time, I really don't have anyone to assist with making the changes you suggest. "
The wife!
Earlier you mentioned having to talk the missus into agreeing to the expenditure. Shanghai her into assistant gardener duty and bend those willful watusis into submission.
...And I'm not too sure about your encouragement plan - whenever I've done it, snapping a latex glove has caused females to flee, not appear. :angelsmiley:
You caught me, CCIE, there is a Mrs. Grow at home. However, she's not fond of the whole grow thing. In fact, she's not Mrs. Grow at all ... she kept her maiden name, Mrs. Legal Equals Moral. That's a whole other story. If I really needed the help, I think she would. However, I'm worried that given her lack of knowledge or interest, her efforts might hinder operations. In any event - with the T5 now shining upon the sides of my plants, do you think it's necessary for this grow?
Now that there are only three, there seems to be a whole lot more room. And with the some of the leaves frying, there's a lot smaller canopy overall. :o
I'm now in day 13 of flowering, and the emerging flowers aren't looking very healthy. Last night I did a full water change and switched to the full strength flowering nutrients, according to the GH bottle. I also added half strength Kool Bloom, and a little SUPERthrive. There are some leaves that appear to be returning to life. Perhaps they were scared into production after what I did with their brother. I probably should have waited for some pre-flowers. However, they were getting way too tall. From what I had read, right up until after I went to flowering, I thought you could go into flowering any time you damn well pleased. Then, I read that you need to wait for these 'pre-flowers'. Oh, well, it's just practice, I keep telling myself. Meanwhile, I search for a new dealer to hook me up while I learn how not to kill cannabis plants.
Yeah, CCIE, I had not thought about other implications of snapping a latex glove in front of females. Perhaps that's why my wife always disappears when I get ready to tend to my plants.
So, I've attached some more photos before I fry them all completely. The first is a family photo of the bunch. The really tall one in the far right corner is the one who's been frying under the new lamp. You might note some things hanging from stems that used to be leaves. That's the one I first suspected was a male. When I pulled the other one out, perhaps he dropped his sacs in hopes I would not come after it next. The other two have not shown any signs of maleness yet. Starting from the tall one in the far right, and working counter-clockwise, I've included close ups of each of the plants. I tried touching these up a bit, by reducing the temperature and increasing the clarity. So, if the colors look a bit off, that was me. My eyes haven't yet adjusted from being under the HPS, so everything looks funky right now.
I'm off to catch up on your thread CCIE. I've read parts, when I get a free moment. It's nice to follow someone else that's almost as lost as I am. Fortunately, I don't have the feline issues you do. If I did, fear of owner or not, I believe they would be pushing up daisies.
Three weeks now, and now there's some flowers showing in several spots. I suppose the example I made of their brother has left an impression on the rest. The rest of my plants appear to be turned females. I'm very excited, having out done my goal of two plants to harvest. Hopefully, I can manage to see these girls to harvest.
I've managed to tied down some of the girls. One didn't get into the whole bondage thing very much. She got all bent over the idea. Yep, I creased the main stem on my tallest plant. So, I've learned that these things should be taken slowly, and bending should be done gradually.
Currently, I'm on the GH 3 part Flora (plus Kool Bloom), using the 'Blooming and Ripening' mixture recipe. It appears that the plants are taking up the nutrients pretty quick. After the last reservoir change, ppm was around 1350. Now it's around 1050. I'm not sure about adding nutrients mid-reservoir change, but should I just add the recipe to a gallon jug and add that along with my daily water adds?
My schedule right now is 12/12. The light period runs from 6PM to 6AM. I generally check on them between 6PM and 8PM. During my check up, I'll add water (about 3/4 gallon now), check the ppm and pH, and try to tie them apart. I keep 3 - 1 gallon jugs on standby for filling. Tonight, I think I will mix one of them with the nutrient mixture and add that in with the next water add.
Attached are updated photos. Similar fashion as the last post - one overall, and three close-ups, starting with the one in the far right of the overall photo, and working clockwise in the photo (I must be dyslexic - I've mentioned the opposite direction last couple times, I think).
Seems like things are looking up for both of us.
After eyeballing those flowers, I think you might be cutting stems before even my skunk is done. :jointsmile:
Weird idea: could the HPS fixture be hung ~20 degrees lower on the T5-fixture-side to allow light to reach the tall plant's top buds?
Hi CCIE ... thanks for the suggestion. I tried the angle, but it appeared to be a little too dangerous (heat) for more of the plant, than just keeping the light as high as possible. Instead, I've added some string, leaning the stems a little better under the HPS lamp. I believe I have all bud sights under the lamp now. Next set of photos should depict that.
Not sure when to expect to be cutting down my crop. It would be schweet to be trimming for the holidays. I think it will be more like late January or early February. How soon do you think you'll be harvesting?
hey joe you want to flower atleast 7 weeks from the start of flower you have 4 weeks left and it takes about 5-6 weeks to really see bud formation, most of the final wieght is done in weeks 7 and 8 so at the moment you would have just wasted your time.
she got to tall it happens next time LST from the start and you will get better results.
Joe,
This is also a first time grow for me and ironically enough we started at the same time. As of today I am on day 21 of flowering, so close to the same day anyway. I dont seem to be getting the same bud formation as you, but close. These are 8 White Widow females from under a 400W HPS lamp. Hydroponic system in all rockwool medium, water 3 times a day for 30 mins. So far have not really had any problems with yellowing, wilting, bugs, or browning of leaves-lucky so far I guess. They were flowered at 5 weeks or about 12" in height. I am using Vita Link A&B bloom formula as well as Vita Link "buddy" at the moment. Light is currently set to 11/13. Temp in bud chamber ranges from low 60's to low 70's (I am in a cold climate, plants are in outdoor shed-this is basically the best I can do as far as heat). As you can see from the pics the plants are quite bushy, in fact I think growing eigft right out of the gate may have been a bit ambitious. The density and closeness of the plants are blocking most light from reaching lower nodes. I have purchase two additional 105W HPS lights which I paln to hang down on each side of the tubs. This I hope will rectify my light situation.
Anyway, again a first time grower and just don't know, if anyone can see these pictures well enough please let know if you think these plants are where they should be at 21 days flowering. Any comments would be greatly appreciated ( I am like a father with a first born here)!!
Stoneymike: Your plants look real healthy and all, but there is no way they are at 21 days of flowering. You should be seeing developing buds by now and I just don't see any sign of it. Are you sure they are getting at least 12 hours of darkness?
Couple more pics
Perp,
That is exactly what I was thinking. I them set at the moment to 11 light on and 13 light off. If you get up real close they have pistils and very small buds, but they seem to be very slow here. I agree they look very healy but am at a bit of a loss
Hi StoneyMike, I'd say be careful with those extra HPS lamps. I've been having trouble with my 600w lamp burning my plants. In fact, I fried three good bud sites two nights ago by getting too close to my lamp. The existing 400w HPS is probably too small for eight plants, from what I've read around here. I thought I was ambitious going for four plants, so now I feel a bit more grounded.
I'm not sure that you should give up hope on those buds appearing. I didn't see any until a few days after I passed three weeks. Now, they are growing all over the place. One thing I've learned about this trial run, is that just when you're about to give up hope, wait a couple days more. One of my seedlings that didn't look like it would ever crack it's seed - is now the tallest one in the bunch, and has the thickest stem.
Some of the photos that you posted look like they were taken in a kitchen. Do you have a place to store these, or is this where they reside? If so, it could be a combination of lack of light during your light period and light leakage during your dark period. Can you describe where the plants normally reside? It's nice to compare notes with another fellow newbie. Check out CCIE's thread, he started around the same time as us.
Invision - thanks for dropping by, and the advice. I guess I was just a little too anxious to see some buds. I'm really starting to see some now. Next photos posted should show some of these nice buds. As I was just saying to Mike, though, I've fried a few bud sites :( I think if I want to continue growing three or four plants in this space, I will need to learn LST.
Hiya Mike. I'd guess light leakage too, but Joe's took forever for no apparent reason beyond the desire to be contrary. As for my harvest, I'm guessing mid-January for the skunk and early February for the Thais. That's 'early' for both strains, but I'm chasing an experience more akin to Carl Sagan's than Cheech and Chong's.
:abduct:
Thanks for the responses guys. Joe, those pictures were taken in the kitchen because I was changing the water that night. They reside the rest of the time in a gardening shed with black plastic covering the light from the outside and reflective material on the inside. However, I now have a bigger problem. I noticed yesterday morning when I went to check the plants, at approximately 7:20, that the light was turned off (they run from 7:30pm to 7:30am). I thought at the time that possibly I was off a few minutes on my timing. However I went out there this morning at 6:30 to double check and the light had shut off sometime in the night. Timer was set correctly and all other units plugged into the power bar were running. I did some troubleshooting on it and it did come on, but I cannot afford to have this type of problem. It seems to me I must have a problem with the ballast (as I said all other units working fine and the bulb is new) the 400W is not staying on for the duration of the cycle-perfect imiming on this huh. I did the only thing I figured logical and bought a new light, but have to wait a few days for delivery. Now tonight the light has come on as sceduled, so I am at a loss. But I am not about to ruin all time, effort, and expense over a few more pounds. I should get the 2 105's tomorrow and the new 400W by Friday. Have to see if this work out-jeeez I hope. I will keep you guys informed with regular posts and pictures.
CCIE, first thanks for the comments, I am in a bit of a hurry tonight and would like to have checked out your thread, but will check it out and comment next post.
Any thoughts of whether I am dead in the water here would be greatly appreciated.
That sucks stoneymike. I think if you can use some kind of light to keep the light cycle constant till your new lights arrive, you could still be ok
also, you can take this time to lightproof your shed.
-p
Damn light keeps shutting off and then comes back on. New lights can't come soon enough.
Hey CCIE .... yeah, if I go by Invision's time guide, it'll be about the same time for me, maybe a little earlier. I figure early to mid January I should be cutting down what I haven't fried under the lamp. :o I can't complain too much, there's still a lot of nice bud sites popping up. Now, if I can just hold out until curing can complete. :rastasmoke: I just read about faithless snipping a bud early for a sample. Too bad about those bollocks.
So, today I snapped a few photos. Starting off as usual with an overall shot of my three girls. I decided to mix things up a bit, so they are in reverse order. The next one is the shortest of the bunch. It's also the one with the least amount of burns. I'm starting to see a connection here.
The next photo shows a nicely forming bud site on the next plant. The last one shows the crispy remains of several once-nice bud sites. They 'were' the biggest bud sites of all the plants. Anyone know if I should trim any of this away. I'm not sure if I should leave it as an example to the remaining plants - sort of a this is your plant .... this is your plant up against a 600w HPS bulb ..... any survivors, ummm, I mean questions?
I skipped a day feeding. I know, bad gardener. Surprisingly, they took up less nutrients - ppm level hardly changed during the extra time. This time I went with straight water. They are consuming around 3/4 to 1 gallon of water a day.
Gotta remember to get high AFTER posting ..... here are the photos .....
Nice plants Joe. :joint1:
Thanks PTS for dropping by, and the compliment.
Just a quick update of the progress, with some photos. Still having some lamp distance problems. I have several bud sites showing up now. I'm just going to hope for the best - that enough lower sites will develop. The shortest plant seems to be doing very well. A little underdeveloped, but nothing burnt so far.
I'm feeding about every other gallon with nutrients mixed in. Water consumption is running between 1/2 gallon and 1 gallon. A lot more leaves are starting to die off. I'm presuming that is the plant just consuming the stored nutrients from these dying bits.
Howdy - are the flowers connecting yet? Resist the urge to sample this early if you mean to smoke it. The amount I minced, extracted and baked yesterday was about equal to all the greenery visible in the third picture above, and it was only able to provide a single strong high for two people. OK, really strong, but still.