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Wish I had a computer so I could highlight what I'm looking at & post it back to you. Can you take a wider shot so I can see your light set up? I'm not seeing what I need to be seeing for a fluorescent set up. I'm not sure if its not there, or just not in the shots. Ill explain what I mean when I see a wide shot. Make sure you show all your lights in it.
~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~
Crap. had a reply all written out and my comp decided it had to restart for "maintenance". Grrrr.
Catbuds, for your concern on color, is it just the color on the last two shots? We JUST changed the bulbs to all 2700K color bulbs. The first pic in my last post is from the old lights under 6500K, the other two are the new bulbs. Color is how the first pic looks, that's how they ALL look. But, is the concern from any other the other plant pics? They all look nicely green to me. the flowering light (2700K, HPS type color, and a couple other options I've seen) all make the colors look weird. Only lights over 3500K let plants look normal IMO. the last two pics, again, are with the 2700K lights. I do, however have a couple rusty items outside that I'll harvest from if I see any signs in the next few days - I'll be keeping an eye out in case. :) With the flash I've used, it has been flushing out color recently, but I've also been keeping an eye on the newest leaves coming out in the case that maybe they are low in iron (they seem pale, but are they paler than new growth should be? I'm just paranoid and OCD, so I'm nit-picking more than needed ;) )
As for the flushing, I did flush twice on most of them, 3 times on a few - waited until it was running clear for a full flush. I NORMALLY don't water until the pot is nearly as light as before it was watered the very first time. I've only watered once a week at most in the past. I don't top up, I don't do anything until it's light. But I did water a bit early when I did yesterday, but I really did need to kill the bugs if I wanted a better crop - so I did. And, I wanted to get rid of any old ferts that could cause problems or locks as they were showing a need. Heck, I've watered each time with half nutrients just because it's only once every 7-10 days! :)
They were VERY VERY sad after the shower, but perked up more quickly than usual when we put them under the new lights - thus they seem happier than usual. I'm pleased with their response. Again, I'm planning on more lights quite soon, trying for 2500-3000K lumens per square foot as it's not too expensive. Next time, switching to HPS 250 since it'll always be a small grow. We'll also be getting the air circulation set up in the next couple days to make sure it doesn't get too hot. I went ahead and kept the closet closed today after the flush to see how they did with the lights and how hot it got. It wasn't bad, but more than it had been with the other lights, and it likely will be more when I get the proper reflectors in place. Thus we'll need the air circulation going to help.
Oh, another thing weighing down the plant was from the compost (manure-based) slurry that I poured on. Many leaves still had some on that I was waiting to finish drying for an easy brush off instead of having to wash it off. If you see the greyer areas on the leaves near the bottom? That's the compost slurry leftovers. ;) There are a couple leaves that show an edge spot that looks like calcium deficiency or such, and one or two leaves on four plants that looked like they were low on phosphorous - which is why I flushed until the water was coming clear (especially those that showed anything).
I hate overwater issues mostly because I lost many of my best, highest-costing plants this year that I had just planted this spring (10 months after moving into the house) when our neighborhood had a lot of back-yard flooding in June. I didn't realize that the flooding-prevention pipes buried at the back end of all the properties here were not working or I'd not have planted them all there. :( Fortunately, most of my roses made it (no idea HOW!) although I lost most of my daliahs and ALL the heritage varieties! So mad about that, although the one I got because it shares my daughter's name survived at the DEEPEST part of the flood! No idea how unless it's just as stubborn as she is... ;) But it was hard, really, to water this much on these plants but I want them to have the best chance they can have to make what my husband needs (it's been hell dealing with this pain for the past nearly 2 years, on top of the periods where he threw out his back on occasion before that)... *sigh*
Ok. I was seeing 2 different kinds of yellow. The brighter surface yellow I took to be from warm lights. It was the yellowishness coming from under that worried me, but since you had 2 light sorceses, grow lights & flash competing, cameras auto light balance tries to compensate & ends up with off color tones. Well that's a relief now that I know where that was coming from. Ok now, as long as you do the rusty nail thing & let them dry between waterings/flushings, the only other time you should see yellow leaves is when the buds are nearly ripe & the sun leaves have been depleted of nutrients & are just begining to die. This is natural & indicates your buds will soon be ripe & its a good thing. Whew! That was kinda scary.
Hey! Panicking over color is a GIRL THING! LOL!
~~~~~~~~~~~~peace!~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm kinda afraid your gonna kill them with kindness.
Couple of questions- males- pretty pics- maybe if I saw one like those then maybe, but I want the males gone long before that. Finger hash - when handling,& green trimming females, resin will accumulate on scissors and hands and can be collected, never seen it come from males.
Why do you want to force a sex change? Doesn't sound very natural, especially if the victim is going the other way, think it may bite you in the later.
I have a 6' light track, used to have a 400hps on it but it finally bit the dust. I'm kinda glad. Had heat issues with it. Wanting to go down to 250 & just add more fluorescent side lighting plus I always lay a (tubular type) fixture on its back shining straight up. Next time I grow indoors will be in a LONG narrow closet in a camper (its at least 8' long). Hoping to be able to keep temps down when I throw the 250 in there. Someone ripped off my entire outdoor garden this year & at the moment, I have absolutely nothing. First time since 1972 that I've nothing to harvest. I don't know how to act!
~~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranger, I was kinda leaning that way too, that's why I stressed letting soil surface dry before watering. Since she'd been using MG, I didn't say anything about all the flushing because that shit gives you a lot of salts build up. Normally, I'd say that was too much flushing, but I kinda make an exception when its MG. BTW, What are mosquito dunks? Never heard of them. You sure they're safe to be putting in/on the soil? I mean for both the plant& the smoker? If pest strips & the vac aren't dealing with the gnats, is there water sitting in the catch pots/ trays? That's a no- no. Ranger, you catch anything I might have missed? Gotta help her, she's trying awfully hard. You seem to be concerned about the sex change thing. It was just an experiment. You're safe. I swear I won't let anybody try that on you! Hehehe! Oh lord its past my bed time & I'm getting goofy! Nite all!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranger, the sex change is just for the fun of it! I've nearly always had some sort of odd science experiment going on somewhere in my home. When I was a kid, I was testing what solvent would eat through plastic the fastest and didn't take into consideration what it would do to the marble sink under the cups... My parents were NOT happy. :D I just wanted to see if I can get any female hairs to pop from the boys - just for fun.
And I would NOT flush this much unless there were the salts from the MG in there that might be causing issues. When I found out that the water here was a little higher now than it had been (was 6.8 before, now 7.2ish), I wanted to make sure that it wasn't locking anything out from the plants.
Catbuds, the dunks are safe for ponds, marshes, even water troughs. "Made with Bt-israelensis (Bt-i), a highly specific biological pesticide, this product represent a major breakthrough for people and the environment when compared with the traditional toxic chemical approach to mosquito control. Will NOT harm people, pets, wildlife or fish." Also, the MDS from the EPA says no hazardous or toxic components... It's also recommended under gnat control on multiple MM sites, which is where I got the crumbling it onto the pot itself. There was no water sitting in the catch trays other than with NEEM twice now, but the closet isn't too far from a well-used bathroom which is a good water source.
Next time for watering is likely a good 7 days away. If it looks like they need a specific nutrient, I'll likely foliar feed with a soft cloth or paintbrush to the leaves only - same for any foliar feeds from here out. Love leaf feeding for the quick response I usually get with my garden, and cannabis doesn't seem any different. ;)
Pics up in a minute. Then I'm off to the store to see what I can find for more lights and camping blankets (the reflective type) and molasses!
Ok, pic: (cfls turned off to show color better)
Attachment 294866
I originally was going to have the lights zip-tied to a 2x4 hung over the plant tops, but this way the lights are able to be adjusted somewhat to the height each plant needs. The leftmost front plant is the male, and has most of the leaves stripped so far. And the girls ARE showing water stress today, which is why the closet is being left open with the windows open for air flow. As I get more lights, they will be hung separately from their own cord near the top so I can move each light separately (current lights are on extensions that have 3 sets of 3 plus each, which causes us to only have 2 strings of lights currently. I'd like to have up to 18 lights going, personally, but not sure how feasible that would be. It would be more electricity that we're running now, so we'll see if it's needed. Heck, if we stick with just a few plants from here out, we'll likely not even go HPS. But I'm more likely to want 1 grow per year in which case it'll be easier to do it that way. :)
Oh, a quote from Planetnatural.com's ad for the dunks: "The active ingredient in Mosquito Dunks® is Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis. (B.t.i.). B.t.i. is a bacterium that is deadly to mosquito larvae but harmless to other living things." "As the Dunk® slowly dissolves, it releases a bacterium which is toxic to all species of mosquito larvae. Mosquito Bits® are a granule that contains the same active ingredient found in the Dunks®, but unlike the Dunks® the Bits release the larvicide immediately."
About the bacterium: "Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a bacterium that lives in soil and is deadly to insects. When ingested, Bt produces a crystalline protein that kills cells and dissolves holes in an insectâ??s gut. It has been used as a pesticide for decades and is approved for organic production, due to the fact that it occurs naturally in the soil and doesnâ??t persist in the environment long after spraying."
The "Bits" are literally just small pieces of the Dunks, and as I broke them up very very very well they will dissolve within a few weeks at most within the soil. We have 5-7 weeks until harvest. Also, many crops have been genetically modified to produce the same toxin that these bacteria do, except at much higher levels than found naturally (those thousands of times higher concentrations than when the bacterium is spray-applicated is leading to it being found in human bloodstreams, but from consuming corn and other crops modified to make the toxin). Fortunately I'm using smaller amounts.
It's another thing I may try to see what happens - get a male plant that I keep taking the bud from, and way-overdose with Dunks to see what it does in the weeks after. :) Would not use the pollen from it, though - just watching to see any effects.
Geez girl, me too on making parents unhappy! I had to take everything apart to see what made it work! I'm why I never wanted kids. I knew if I had one just like me, I would have KILLED it!
The MG is why I hadn't said anything about the frequent flushings. I know of no other plant food that leaves behind as much metalic salt deposits as MG. Ugh! I don't mind it as a foliar feed tho, as I wash my plants a lot as a preventive, so no problem. You can do a quick fix as a foliar feed when you see a deficiency crop up. I would just filter my organic slury into a spray bottle & apply that way. Quicker & easier with same results. I was going to say you're making this more dificult than it has to be, but.......I now see this is play for you, your entertainment. I'm surprised your scientific mind hasn't broken everything down to the molecular level & you haven't posted pics of microscopic slides proving you theories yet. So now I'll be waiting for that! LOL!
Hey, I'm a zip-tie kinda girl too. I actually built a sm storage shed & put it together with zip-ties, greenhouse tape & gorilla glue! Everybody laughed at me, but that was about 5yrs ago & its still just fine. (Somebody stole my deck screws & I was in a hurry).
Thanks for the info on mosquito dunks. I should have asked sooner. Farmers ponds behind my house really LOADED me up with mosquitos this summer. I'll pass that information on to him.
Everything sounds good & you seem happy to have a project that occupies your scientific side! What can I say? GIRLS RULE!! HEHEHE!~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~