Colorado High - Soilless - LED/CFL - Dutch Dope - 2014

[b.real]

fingers crossed for you

just curious, what's the wattage of that reflector model according to the sticker on the back of it?

 

[David Bowman]

There is no sticker that I can find on the LED light but according to the Top LED website, the 96x3 (288 total) watt reflector uses ~170 watts in Growth mode and ~200 watts in Growth & Bloom modes. I'm also running 184 watts of 5000K CFLs. During the first half of flowering I will employ 92 watts of 5000K and 168 watts of 2700K CFLs. During the second half of flowering I will employ 168 watts of 2700K CFLs and 104 watts of 10% UVB CFLs. So total wattage of light employed during various stages of the grow are as follows -

~350W - Vegetating - ~44W/sq. ft.
~460W - First half of flowering - ~58W/sq. ft.
~470W - Second half of flowering - ~59W/sq. ft.

In comparision to my previous grow during the summer where I couldn't use CFLs during flowering due to heat issues -

~350W - Vegetating - ~44W/sq. ft.
~200W - First half of flowering - ~25W/sq. ft.
~200W - Second half of flowering - ~25W/sq. ft.

 

[David Bowman]

Day 62 since the start of germination and it looks like all of the kids have decided to express gender. Unfortunately, the genitalia are still too small for me to photograph. As a matter of fact, in order for me to get a close enough look to take a guesstimate of their genders, I used my magnifying glass along with my reading glasses to maximize the magnification. I will post photos when I can actually take decent close-ups of the kids. It is still too early to be absolutely sure but I think that there are two females and one male. I am waiting to switch to 12/12 until I am absolutely sure of each kid's gender, not to mention make sure they are actually pre-flowering.

 

[David Bowman]

Day 63 since the start of germination and the B/R kid is definitely a female. Today, I observed a tiny calyx, barely 1/16" in length, with two tiny pistils coming out of it. I spent a half hour trying to take a photo of it and while I could see the pistils in the available light, the camera either couldn't catch them or it required the use of the flash which drowned out the tiny delicate pistils. Regardless, today is the first day of flowering and within a few days, a week maximum, we should know the genders of all of the kids. To that end, I have turned on both the Growth and Bloom modes of the LED light and removed half of the 5000K CFLs replacing them with higher wattage 2700K CFLs. The temperature range will remain unchanged at between 70° and 85°, however, the RH has been lowered to 40%. Yesterday, I gave the kids their last feeding of growth nutrients and for the remainder of the grow they will be receiving Growology Step 3 and SNS 604B, along with Molasses and Cal-Mag Plus. I will continue to check on the kids at least daily and post my observations here along with any photos once the kids have developed a little more.

 

[Colesdad]

Me. Love. Pictures..... waiting patiently

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks for waiting patiently Colesdad! I so want a decent camera with good macro capabilities but that just isn't in the cards right now.

 

[Khraevyn]

Hey CH! Amazing grow you got going. Watching and waiting!!

~K~

 

[David Bowman]

and Khraevyn.

 

[k0ncept]

I cant wait to see updated pics of the babies!!

 

[David Bowman]

Neither can I! I can now confirm 2 girls, the third kid might be a male. not sure yet. I will post updated photos of the kids later this week.

 

[k0ncept]

Well I hope they are all Female unless you wanted otherwise That is the reason im so scared of seeds.. I have a friend who had his entire garden ruined by him not spotting one in the back that had dropped a sack and started to spew pollen.. The Fan was on when he found it and it flew all over the room and well, in a few weeks he was cutting everything down and has just gotten back up and running with all females now.

If that one does turn, are you going to take it full term and get seeds from it? Or would you just wack it and keep the females?

 

[David Bowman]

All males are immediately put to death upon confirmation of their gender. I had hermies on half of my first grow but let the hermies go full term while meticulously picking off all of the stamens I could find. I ended up with a few seeds on one of the lower branches of one plant where I missed a stamen that had opened up directly above. While that was a PITA, I am glad that I got a few seeds to experiment with on a future grow.

 

[b.real]

two girls? yay! I think we're due for an update

 

[David Bowman]

I'm still trying to get photos of the calyxes but they are still so small and hard to see even with the naked eye let alone with the camera. I can barely see the pistils and the total length of the calyxes and pistils together is only ~1/8". I promise to get new photos of the kids posted sometime this week, including clear shots of their private parts.

 

[David Bowman]

Day 9 of flowering and the kids have fully expressed themselves and I now have three beautiful ladies in the house and this time I do have photos! This was a most pleasant surprise and brings my overall female/male ratio to 11/5 out of the 16 kids that survived to flowering over the last 4 grows. Two of the ladies are ~12" in height and the third is ~8" in height. Their environment remains stable with temperatures ranging between 70° and 85° throughout the 24-hour light cycle and the RH pretty much staying between 30% and 45% as well.

Group shot of the ladies on day 9 of flowering -

Profile shot of the ladies on day 9 of flowering -

Single shot of the B/L lady on day 9 of flowering -

Close-up shot of pre-flowers on the B/L lady on day 9 of flowering -

Single shot of the B/R lady on day 9 of flowering -

Close-up shot of pre-flowers on the B/R lady on day 9 of flowering -

Single shot of the F/C lady on day 9 of flowering -

Close-up shot of pre-flowers on the F/C lady on day 9 of flowering -

The above photos were taken right before I fed them a total of one-half gallon of the standard nutrient solution. The ladies have been increasingly thirsty of late and so I have begun to alternate feedings with what I call fortified molasses water containing Cal-Mag Plus and Molasses. They seem to like that schedule better than feeding with every watering as Growology suggests. While feeding with every watering works fine during vegging, I've found it can be a bit much sometimes during early flowering, especially during the transition from vegging to flowering.

I just have one issue and as usual it is one that I have created myself. We recently decided to take a pre-holiday vacation for 9 days and with the ladies increased appetite and thirst, I'm concerned that they will either be significantly damaged/stunted, especially during the stretch phase of flowering, or even perish. I've given this a lot of thought and have decided on a course of action. I first thought about a watering system but given the short notice, I really don't have time to purchase or build a system and then test it before the start of vacation. I also thought about flushing them thoroughly with water. That would take care of their watering needs for at least 2 weeks but could significantly impact their progress during this early critical transitional stage from vegging to flowering. What I finally decided to do is to water/feed on a slightly more frequent schedule than the ladies are currently demanding. My goal is to saturate the soil with water and nutrients in preparation for the extended drought to come. However, given the rate the medium has been drying out of late, I feel that this alone will not get them through the entire 9 days. In order to reduce their rate of growth. I have to reduce the amount of light that they receive. I have two options, turn off the CFLs (~260 watts) or turn off the LEDs (~200 watts). My first inclination is to turn off the LEDs since they provide the most intense light, which I assume would also cause the most growth, and they are the lower wattage of the two light sources. I'm hoping that the ladies would regard this reduction of light as a long cloudy weather event. I could also turn off the CFLs but I'm concerned about stunting them with too little light, as far as wattage is concerned. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of situation? As always, I appreciate any comments and/or suggestions.

 

[KingJohnC]

Leevalley.com caries a automated watering system that may be what your looking for

Indoor Watering System - Lee Valley Tools

 

[b.real]

they look great my dude.

 

[closetorganic]

Nice Ladies COlorado High and getting 11 out of 16 seeds to be female over your grows seems an above average success alone
KingJohnC posted a sweet system there if possible.I havent left that long ,more like 3-5 days and I just watered heavy leaving excess in the tray.
I was wondering if not running your cfls that generate the most heat would be better to slow down evaporation.Best wishes and enjoy your vacation

 

[KCMP]

Subscribed.

Very interested in trying a soiless medium my next grow. Your plants are looking great!

 

[David Bowman]

Leevalley.com caries a automated watering system that may be what your looking for

Indoor Watering System - Lee Valley Tools

Thanks KJC! That's the very one that I've been looking at purchasing when I do decide to bite the bullet and get one, so far I haven't needed it yet.