CFLGrow's Soil, White Widow, CFL Stealth Growbox Journal - 2010

[funnystyle]

mmm im really diggn the setup, its pretty legit.

ill be swingin by dawg

 

[cflgrow]

Well, I finally threw the switch. The lights are off, and my girls are going to be getting 24 hours of darkness. Then comes the 12/12

In other news, I got the sweetest purchase ever! A portable A/C unit which vents its exhaust through a 6" flex-pipe. I plugged that pipe into the upstairs vents... and now my room runs at 76º, regardless of how many watts I'm running I have two lights going right now, but I could run all 2 000 watts and still not worry!

Question for you guys, though. I'm hoping to have about 60 clones for my next grow (in mid-January)... but I realized that if I take them now, they'll be took big... and if I take them later, the plant will be in the flowering phase, and the clones will be stressed.

What do you guys usually do if you only have one grow room, and want to keep clones?

 

[Barry Manilow]

Well, I finally threw the switch. The lights are off, and my girls are going to be getting 24 hours of darkness. Then comes the 12/12

In other news, I got the sweetest purchase ever! A portable A/C unit which vents its exhaust through a 6" flex-pipe. I plugged that pipe into the upstairs vents... and now my room runs at 76º, regardless of how many watts I'm running I have two lights going right now, but I could run all 2 000 watts and still not worry!

Question for you guys, though. I'm hoping to have about 60 clones for my next grow (in mid-January)... but I realized that if I take them now, they'll be took big... and if I take them later, the plant will be in the flowering phase, and the clones will be stressed.

What do you guys usually do if you only have one grow room, and want to keep clones?

Hey buddy. Can you provide more info on the A/C unit, I'd like to look into that.

I just broke down and created a veg/clone room, I really didn't want to but see no other alternative. If you keep the clones in the flowering room guess what... they're going to start flowering as soon as they can. I think it's better to let them develop a good root system first which will take about a month I'd estimate.

I've seen on here where guys put their clones/plants on a 6/6/6/6 light cycle, supposedly that really slows them down. I've never tried it. Good luck!

 

[cflgrow]

Well, I found my portable A/C on Kijiji - same as Craigslist. Paid $140. Some were $100 and under, some were up to $300.

It's a 9000 BTU, which is pretty powerful... there were ones as low as 5, and as high as 14... but for my room (8 x 4 x 7), it's totally more than enough. Instead of searching for the same one as me, just search what your options are locally. Look on Craigslist. Find an AC unit that looks well taken care of (or new), and has **exhaust tubing**. That's the important part. Window AC units aren't helpful... it has to be a standalone with exhaust tubing.

Ideally, you'd find one with an intake and exhaust pipe, but exhaust only is fine.

Has anyone here tried to keep clones small? I have a 12-18" tall shelf... maybe I could enclose it and try to keep the girls small enough... ?

 

[Twitch Kustom]

Hey Troublesome.

I have the smoke alarm, CO sensor and two fire extinguishers in/around the grow room... I'm trying to be careful... but that being said, they don't always make the perfect, pre-made electrical setup. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

That being said, can you tell me if it's possible to wire two adapters into one product? I could test it out, but there's a chance I'll blow the adapters if it doesn't work. Essentially, I'm hoping I can plug the two positive wires from the adapters into the fan's positive wire, and the two negatives into the fan's negative.

*Hopefully* creating a 24 volt current with double the watts/amps.

Please tell me if this is completely ridiculous, and I'll simply fry the breaker/adapters

First off your grow seems to be going rather nicely. Good Job!! Im working on getting my first one set up. Second is Im trying to understand exactly what you got going on here.(Im Chief Engineer of a Marriott so I have a pretty good electrical background) If I could see a pic of your adapters(im geussing they are just regular dc convertors/transformers) and your fan I could give you a little better answer. If you want to get some pics of them up I will try to help you out as best as I can. One thing you have to look at also is how much load you have on your curcuit you are using for your room. Hopefully its more than one curcuit or you have a big enough breaker. Let me know if you want the help.

Stay high people!!

 

[cflgrow]

Greetings Twitch McCustom! Haha. I'm excited to have your voice in this journal. First, the breakers - I have two 15 amp breakers running electrical boxes... unfortunately one breaker is taking all the lights on its own, but whatever.

The fan and transformer I'll have to tell you tomorrow when I can get into the grow room...

I'm hoping for input on the clones, though. I feel like I need to take about 60-100 clones very soon, for the next grow. But I don't know how many I can take from these plants right now, or whether I should be waiting 'til the end of the harvest...

I mean, if I take clones now, they'll be two months old by the time I'm harvesting these plants and making room for them. That doesn't work. But if I took the clones almost at the end, I think that would be stressing the plant/clones.

Feedback?

 

[Barry Manilow]

Greetings Twitch McCustom! Haha. I'm excited to have your voice in this journal. First, the breakers - I have two 15 amp breakers running electrical boxes... unfortunately one breaker is taking all the lights on its own, but whatever.

The fan and transformer I'll have to tell you tomorrow when I can get into the grow room...

I'm hoping for input on the clones, though. I feel like I need to take about 60-100 clones very soon, for the next grow. But I don't know how many I can take from these plants right now, or whether I should be waiting 'til the end of the harvest...

I mean, if I take clones now, they'll be two months old by the time I'm harvesting these plants and making room for them. That doesn't work. But if I took the clones almost at the end, I think that would be stressing the plant/clones.

Feedback?

Hey CFL! I'd post your question in the grow room clones sub-forum, or look there for some info. I believe if you take clones during flower it takes longer for them to start rooting/growing.

That's a shitload of clones! How big is your grow room again?

 

[cflgrow]

Well, my grow room is about 4' x 12'... but I have three ebb and grow flood tables. I want to put about 20-30 little clones in 4" rockwool cubes into each. That way instead of growing individual trees, I'll be growing one giant hedge of weed If I start flowering them and find they're way too packed tight, I could throw out 15-30% of the weak ones.

 

[Barry Manilow]

Well, my grow room is about 4' x 12'... but I have three ebb and grow flood tables. I want to put about 20-30 little clones in 4" rockwool cubes into each. That way instead of growing individual trees, I'll be growing one giant hedge of weed If I start flowering them and find they're way too packed tight, I could throw out 15-30% of the weak ones.

ok this I got to see

 

[cflgrow]

ok this I got to see

Haha. Well stay tuned in BlueDog! I'm not sure if it'll work out as planned... but I've been talking to several local growers who think that a 4'x2' tray filled with 4" rockwool cubes and hydroton could do it. Who knows?

 

[Gordon d'Angelo]

hi mate...harvest rocked soooo stoned these days...sorry kinnda got caught up with yea haha...ok clones u said right ? how many plants you intend next time round ? give me the amount and the way your gonna clone ?......and ill try work out percentages for yea.........info on taking clones ie veg v flowering veg always unless you can wait...taking flowering clones takes about 4 weeks for them to start growing again....veg clones 10/14 days......your bottom leaf on your plant is old and not getting light your plant decided to suck the life outta her and love the goodness....alls good there mate........all in all mate alls going smooth for yea.......hope i answered your questions...........all this is just my experience ....i do not know it all and never profess too....take it easy mate.....i am on my buzzzz lmao...weedtastic

 

[airavata]

The clones I purchased from a dispensary for my first grow cycle (in bloom now, and pictured in my journal) all came from flowered females. They looked like somebody planted frosty little buds on a stick. I didn't know how long they'd had to root so I waited for signs of nutrient deficiency to repot them, which took a week-week and a half. After that they took off (they're having nutrient problems now, but that's another issue). That said, I've heard that taking cuttings from flowering plants impairs the plant's genetics and vigor. I have no basis for comparison so I can't say one way or the other, but I would try to avoid this if possible. In the end, I don't think there's any way around having a separate space for a mother and clones. Maybe use your dresser setup for your clones and build a little tent next to it for a mother that you keep in veg.? ScooterClowns made one of these, on a larger scale, out of what looks like PVC (for the frame) wrapped in white 6mil. plastic for the interior, black 6mil. plastic on top of that to light-proof it, and zippers for doors (at least that's what I gathered from their pics). This would be easy, effective, cheap, and highly customizable. Just an idea. Hope that helps.

 

[cflgrow]

hi mate...harvest rocked soooo stoned these days...sorry kinnda got caught up with yea haha...ok clones u said right ? how many plants you intend next time round ? give me the amount and the way your gonna clone ?......and ill try work out percentages for yea.........info on taking clones ie veg v flowering veg always unless you can wait...taking flowering clones takes about 4 weeks for them to start growing again....veg clones 10/14 days......your bottom leaf on your plant is old and not getting light your plant decided to suck the life outta her and love the goodness....alls good there mate........all in all mate alls going smooth for yea.......hope i answered your questions...........all this is just my experience ....i do not know it all and never profess too....take it easy mate.....i am on my buzzzz lmao...weedtastic

Hey Weed! You earned the stoner binge You had a sick grow!

As for my 'dream goal'... I'd say about 20 clones per tray, 3 trays. I don't really have an easy way to clone, as I have no current mothers and no place for one. I have a cloning chamber that is 4' long and 10" tall... could potentially get 200 clones in there. Only problem is the clones would outgrow it in weeeell under a month.

The grow room is entirely in bloom.

So there's my conundrum. I'm thinking I'll just buy 60 clones, post-harvest.

I might try to save my best two or three mothers from this round - harvest without killing them. Who knows?

The clones I purchased from a dispensary for my first grow cycle (in bloom now, and pictured in my journal) all came from flowered females. They looked like somebody planted frosty little buds on a stick. I didn't know how long they'd had to root so I waited for signs of nutrient deficiency to repot them, which took a week-week and a half. After that they took off (they're having nutrient problems now, but that's another issue). That said, I've heard that taking cuttings from flowering plants impairs the plant's genetics and vigor. I have no basis for comparison so I can't say one way or the other, but I would try to avoid this if possible. In the end, I don't think there's any way around having a separate space for a mother and clones. Maybe use your dresser setup for your clones and build a little tent next to it for a mother that you keep in veg.? ScooterClowns made one of these, on a larger scale, out of what looks like PVC (for the frame) wrapped in white 6mil. plastic for the interior, black 6mil. plastic on top of that to light-proof it, and zippers for doors (at least that's what I gathered from their pics). This would be easy, effective, cheap, and highly customizable. Just an idea. Hope that helps.

Welcome to my grow, Airavata! You're right, about needing a separate area for cloning... I'm just stuck on what to do for the veg phase. I sold that dresser grow - I want to keep everything contained within my grow room. I'll post a picture of the cloning chamber later

Anyway, here are my newest batch of grow room shots!

Just showcasing the new growth that has exploded on the main stems, since switching to 12/12:

 

[cflgrow]

Well, I finally did a check for males.

Three have been pulled, which saddens me Haha. But life goes on. The new growth is ridiculous. I was worrying that I wouldn't have enough room for 10 girls at the rate they're growing.

Today they were all at about 24" (including the big ones, which are already tied down)... so I tied them down pretty aggressively. I dropped the canopy to roughly 12". Unfortunately I've been having troubles with being 'gentle' during the LST process... I've split two right down the center where they were topped... and I snapped a branch off my biggest plant. Honestly - the branch is almost as thick as two extension cords, side-by-side. It's amazing.

I know I should be posting pictures of the thinned out, LST'd plants... but I'm pretty tired. Thanks for all the love!

Oh - and I'm still trying to think of a simple fix for my veg-bloom-clone issue. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If I only have the one room (which has a cloning chamber... maybe 12-14" tall?), how can I get a more consistent supply with clones? In a perfect world, I would start with clones, switch to bloom immediately after the roots set, and then harvest. But I want about 50 to 60 clones to be prepped and ready when I harvest...

With a two-month bloom phase, I'd have pretty big clones. Maybe there's a way to keep growth really slow on my clones? That way at 2 months, they'd still be under the 12" mark?

Not sure. Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[airavata]

I don't think there is really a way to slow their growth without stressing them and impairing the quality of your plants in some way. I think you need to find a way to keep your clone mother or mothers in veg for a while after you put the rest of your plants in flower. You can take clones from your plant at any point, if you have to though, it's just not ideal. It's just a matter of timing and how much space you have available, I guess. But trying to suppress your clones' growth definitely sounds like trouble, IMHO.

 

[airavata]

The room's looking sharp, by the way.

 

[Barry Manilow]

CFL post your questions in the cloning sub-forum, you'll hopefully get some good eyes on it there.

 

[cflgrow]

And the pictures I promised!

We're down to 6 females - 2 in the first tray, and four in the second.

First tray of two:

Second tray, four plants:

 

[Barry Manilow]

Hey cfl welcome back I was wondering how things were going. Looks like those 6 will do quite nicely! You're in flower now right?

 

[cflgrow]

Hey Blue! Things are going well! I'm two weeks into flower... the seeds germinated on October 7th.

And Blue - I've seen you on a ton of similar forums... do you have any guesses (based on previous, similar journals) on what sized harvest I could hope for?