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I totally understand. Scratch what I said about soft stems. I don't do hydro, But I thought that your stems stayed soft(relatively).
Anyway, I hope you don't spend too much time worried about this one, when you could be smoking and thinking on the next go round. I was very glad that I decided to flower despite growing concerns of "better" ways. On this go round, I have done a much more well planed LST job. But not as good LSTing as I will do next! Get it?
Nice looking grow Opie!:thumbsup:
I'm keeping an eye on this thread to see how it all turns out.
PC :smokin:
Well I thought I might as well toss in a couple photos of this set-up when I was just getting it going.
These clones were ignored for almost 2 weeks. During that time the dome kept most of the moisture in, which was too much. Of course you are supposed to let them breath at least twice per day. When I took off the dome I couldn??t hardly believe that they were in such good condition, except for the massive amount of mold and rot, which was picked out before the pictures. I checked the PH and it was 6.25. Just barely squeaking in at a level that might sustain the life of a weed plant (I like 5.5).
These clones were scarified, but this is not a good example of what scarification can do. You can kinda see the results on some of them, but nothing like if I had taken these cuttings from the proper places on the mother and had taken care of them during rooting. Notice the droop on some of them once in the system, due to not hardening them properly. I put baggies over all of them overnight just to be safe, and the perked right up the next day.
If you want to see the massive bubbles my new air pump was making before I put the lids on and the plants in, or just check out what's under the hood, or for some of you, the bonnet, go here: http://boards.cannabis.com/hydroponics/141583-i-ve-got-proper-bubbles-once.html
It was because of Weedhound that I had to go buy a laser thermometer, and no I didn??t get a good deal on it. It all started with me lowering the light. I have always thought that if the plant doesn??t show signs of heat stress, then it??s not too hot. Well I have always been wrong according to Weedhound. Here??s what she has to say on the subject:
?the REAL key is this.....(shhhhh) when the leaf surface temps go over 80 degrees (usually at about 85 degrees room temp or so depending on ventilation, how close your light is etc..) the plants growth will slow down tremendously. Photosynthesis drops a HUGE amount (in fact almost to 0 if I remember correctly) when leaf surface temp exceeds 80
I lowered my light to about 16? from the plants after lights out one night. I kept watching the plants the next day to see if it looked like they were getting heat stressed, but I didn??t notice signs of any stress. The day after that I was looking at my plants and I realized that I hadn??t really noticed much growth over the past two days. Usually I can notice growth in half of a day, and I was expecting faster growth with the light closer, not slower growth. Not too much later I was reading that post of Weedhounds, and it suddenly dawned on me that I may have the very problem that she is talking about. I??ve never heard of it before, but I learn new things all the time that are so basic and simple, that I should have known them a long time ago.
Now Weedhound, I love and respect you, and I deeply want to steal your dogs, but I usually don??t take anyone??s word at face value. It??s not that I don??t trust you, far from it. It??s just that I have noticed that even people that I have greatly respected have sometimes been mistaken. I spent a little time trying to find something to corroborate your hypothesis, but I didn??t have any luck. (Weedhound if you??re reading this, any chance of a link or something?) I??ll probably look more in the future, but the important thing is that I believe in what you are preaching, so much that I got to thinking about my dilemma concerning my plants?? apparent lack of proper growth. I got to wondering how I could find out what the real temperature is of individual leaves is, and the only plausible thing I could come up with is to get a laser thermometer. I wanted one now and decided not to try to get the best deal possible. I found out that they are very hard to come by in these parts, but fortunately an auto parts shop in a nearby hick town had one. Turns out that even though the air temp around the plants was supposedly 85, the leaves were showing anywhere from 80 to 91 when using the laser thermometer. Just as many, if not more of the readings were above 85 than were below. I thought that this is not good according to Weedhound, even though I have heard of growing in temperatures over 100. It definitely would explain my apparent lack of growth for a couple days immediately following the lowering of the light. So I kept raising my light until all my leaf readings were under 80. It??s now almost 3 feet above the plants.
Tomorrow I am going to put a variable speed switch on one of my inline fans and run it through that louvered opening you can see in the 2nd picture, and another one you can??t see about a foot above it. Perhaps then I will be able to lower my light.
Summary: Assuming Weedhound is correct, and she probably is, then the only real way to find out what distance your light needs to be from your plants, is to use a laser thermometer and measure the leaf temperature. Keep raising your light until all leaves read less than 80.
OK here we go, 3rd major tie down, 20 days after introduced to the system, 4 days after 2nd major tie down. Nutrients increased from 1000 PPM to 1313. Why 1313? Because I was aiming for 1300 and came darn close. A delicate bouquet of well water, Fox Farms Grow Big, Liquid Karma, SuperThrive, PH down, and GHs SubCulture. Yum!
Snapped one nice node off today. Oh well I guess that's not too bad for 3 tiedowns.
The first one is before this tie down, the next two are after, and the last two are of the biggest plant, before and after.
I forgot to mention that I think I solved the mystery of the ghosties. I think it was dust or dirt as someone mentioned, but not in the air. I just happened to notice that my camera lens was filthy today and so I cleaned it. No more ghosties that I've noticed so far. I clean my camera lenses as regularly are clockwork, once every five years.
I think it was Zcomp that asked about those seedlings, and I kept forgetting to respond. Sorry, but here you go: The footprint of the grow is being taken over pretty well with foliage, so I had to move the seedlings into my mother section for further development. Right now the lighting is all the wrong wavelength (2700K is for budding), so I got myself a deal on a bunch of ??daylight? bulbs which are good for vegging (5500K) and plan to replace them all tomorrow, and get them closer to the plants. But for today, here??s the pictures of my Blueberry X Northern Lights babies. I told the doctor that I didn??t want to know their sex yet, but I am secretly hoping most of them are girls. I know from experience that the girls of this strain make a particularly nice smoke, filled with THC and other goodness.
Now for crying outloud, no more posting for a bit. I have to get up in a few minutes, so I'd better be heading off to bed.
I haven't said much here, but, THUMBS UP for this thread OpieY! :)
It's FAQ material, IMO.
Very nicely written, lots of pics, and explanations.
I'm enjoying it much!
Thanks man!
Best,
-turtle420 :cool:
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Hey Opie, nice thread you got going here. You mention cloning about 2 weeks before harvest and I am talking to Weedhound about how she might wanna try this. Problem is that I have never waited that long to take cuts before....
Any chance you can stop by this thread and give your input so she can clones her MKs and learn from your experiences? --- http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/...ml#post1728877
P.S. Like the approach, I might have to give this a whirl in the near future
MVP :jointsmile:
If you got a few Decent HID you'd be in business... You are obviously quite knowledgable... It seems like lighting and possibly genetics are slowing you down. What kind of genetics are those? bagseed? and what kind of lights i saw the one picture of the y-socket cfl Is that all you're using? Hydroponics is best if the lighting can keep up.