THC Bomb entering flowering stage; may need help.

[tlranger]

Like the lights down the sides, things are lookin good, a ways to go. They are sure filling the space.

[Farang]

I've been half expecting people to tell me to ditch the two cool whites and fill the array with the warm whites. nobody has offered that suggestion, so I guess I'll soldier on. as I said in the opening, this is the first time I've used the T-5's. obviously, they are supplemental to the HPS.

but I am concerned with leaf loss which is occurring about a week earlier than my notes from previous grows say. the first two photos are of the two worst affected plants, but all of them are beginning to lose all or part of a leaf set. and what's bothering me is that none of the leaf drawing or pictures of deficiencies depicts whatever is ailing these plants.

thoughts?

[Farang]

you can't see them with out a loupe, but the buds are frosting up. the canopy remains pretty even. temps are ranging from 20-35C and RH is generally in the 30-50% range. I'm still losing a dozen or more leaves/week and this concerns me.

here are the pics:
Attachment 297918Attachment 297919

[Shovelhandle]

I've been more concerned when the leaves won't start to drop off. It's looking fine to me.

[Farang]

thanks for the words of encouragement. to date, I've had more trouble with this hybrid than I care to, so perhaps I'm just being paranoid.

[Farang]

here we are at the end of week 4. according to the seed company 3-5 weeks to go though one YouTube submission has them going into week 11.

trichs are now visible to the camera lens though I really need a loupe to see them.

still losing leaves and this concerns me. the plants are staying short which is good for my situation. could this be because of the side lighting?
Attachment 298118Attachment 298119

this week, again, they got 240cc of tea on each of two days. temps are up and rise to 35.

[Shovelhandle]

way too hot! you need to get closer to 'room temperature', under 26ºC

[Farang]

I wish I could. there is no physical way.

[Farang]

Shovelhandle,

I know you're right about keeping the temp below 30. I have multiple handicaps to conquer and perhaps you can help me puzzle through them.

Obviously, it's the HPS which is the root cause of the heat issues. But also, the room is the top most in my building and is un-insulated. Unless I open the door, there is minimal air exchange and this can be problematic.

In previous grows where I used the HPS all the way through the grow, the room would always get to at least 30 even in the dead of night. As I reported in the original post, I've unbuttoned that HPS fixture, removing the front glass and the cover over the ballast. My thinking was that the unit would run cooler and, therefore, the bulb and ballast would last longer. I could button it back up but I'm not sure that would solve the heat issue.

Currently, I'm running the lights from 7 am to 7 pm. This allows me to open the door for most of the day (and that depends on what time I get up). If I left the door open 24/7, the light is visible to neighbors and that's a real negative.

I could leave the door closed 24/7 but that only drives the heat up and offers no relief or adequate air exchange. Also, I need access to that room for the water supply which is necessary for my veggie garden on the patio. Light becomes an issue as the plants want an uninterrupted dark period, right? Installing an exhaust fan would require modifying the building (my landlord would likely be upset) and wouldn't allow me to block light from entering.

Here are some possible alternatives.

First, I can switch the light schedule to noon to midnight. I'm always up before noon. But as I say, this has minimal impact on the heat in the room. I don't suppose them getting extra light until the new schedule takes hold is a severe problem. If I did that, I'd only be able to open the door for 5-6 hours/day.

I could also raise the lamp up to its maximum but that dramatically reduces the effective lumens and I don't think it would make more than a one degree difference.

I could pull the HPS from the grow entirely and re-hang my two 250W CFL's, but they are 6700K and not generally suitable for flowering; however, I think all the heat issues would disappear. I'm already using two sets of T-5 bulbs as side lighting, one cool and one warm in each fixture. I could buy one more fixture to hang directly above the canopy. My budget is tight but could probably stretch that far.

I could move all the plants out of the room and onto the patio. We're only getting about 12 hours of light/day anyway but this is increasing though probably not enough to re-veg the plants. Ambient temps range up to 28 or 29. After an unusually cold December, we're having an unusually warm January. February is generally cool but who can predict?

One of the reasons I moved to indoor growing (beside the bugs) is because there is no real dark period here. The locals are apparently so afraid of the dark that there are streetlights everywhere and spaced meters apart. One of the closest to my third floor patio is an HPS lamp, the rest are florescent. It's not that there is enough light to read up there, but it's never dark. And then there are the bugs to deal with......

Even if the electric circuit up there would support an A/C unit - and I'm not certain it would - the type of A/C units available here only recirculate the air, leading back to the stale air situation.

So you see, every option I have is a trade off.

What's your suggestion?

[Weezard]

I had a thought or two on this so lemme butt in.

Go to the junkyard, bring your tape measure, and find a door the same size as the one on the room.
Pay particular attention to the hinge placement if you are not up to moving them.
If the existing door is a standard size, it will at least be close.
Pull the hinge pins and store the landlords door so you can replace it when you move out.
Under a bed comes to mind, but wrapped in plastic, they make excellent plant tables.

Install your "junk" door and cut holes in it one at the top, one at the bottom.
If you put an intake fan, with a filter and light baffle in the bottom hole, the hot air will be ported out the top.
That will also allow you to use a "cool tube" for the HPS and port it out the top hole with some "dryer duct".

If none of that works for you, you can try relocating the ballast to outside the room.
Just extend the wires that go to the lamp.
Ballasts run pretty hot and that should help a little.


I hear you about the damn street lights
If you have a light meter, go out on the patio and actually measure the illumination.
Anything under 1 Lux will not affect cannabis.

Aloha,
Weezard