First Attempt - Indoor Soil CFL's 3 Strains Clones

[Muggles13]

That's a lot of light bulbs.

Thinking about going back for more, think about it, Christmas lights on a grand scale, lol.

Nice score with the bulbs, you'll be set for flowering

And for several years.

LOL Did you buy the lights at Biglots? I saw some there today on sale too.

99 Cents Store, cheap munchies too.

Those ladies are looking great

Great grab! The bulb purchase must have been fun. I discovered a good deal at a Goodwill store when I was looking for possible grow gear before I started. I was looking at the bulbs and the girl who worked there made a comment on the price and asked me how many I wanted. I asked her how many I could have and she said, "Do you want a case?"

$23.99 later and I left with 48 23W 2700k bulbs

Man I love a good deal!

Wish somebody would put daylight 6500 K. on sale. There getting hard to find.

 

[Muggles13]

Well, I decided that it was time to finish read the manual for the camera, omg, I had no idea it could do this. And cause me to be concerned again. Do we have a new problem starting. The white dots on the leaves, I've never seen them this close before. Top - Papaya, bottom Thai.

 

[Mork]

It looks like you are capturing the leaf's stomata. Unless you can see it with the naked eye in abundance then it might be mold (but I don't think so based on picts). Try taking a picture with the flash off and compare the difference. On my camera the stomata look's similiar if I have too much background light.

 

[HempRocket]

NO, NO PROBLEM. Those white dots are normal.

 

[HempRocket]

Haha, I guess we were posting at the same time.

 

[Muggles13]

The idea I had for some reflectors for side lights didn't work as well as I thought they might, so I picked up a 10.5 inch reflector and a Y-socket at home de pot and spent the afternoon figuring out how to hang it. The Cherry needed some more light down lower. It was pretty dark down on the forest floor. Don't know if its the Cal-Mag already, but she's grown like crazy the last couple days. I'll get some good pix tomorrow.

 

[George Parker]

Do we have a new problem starting. The white dots on the leaves, I've never seen them this close before.

I had the same question with my girls and the same replies .

You will probably be enjoying a frosty lady in the future!

That is a nice growth spurt as well, the Thai's new growth looks much better.

Good job sir!

 

[Muggles13]

21 days since the girls took up residence here. I'm thinking they need to go 12/12, probably tomorrow night. If Cherry Baby doubles and a little more I'm OK,
if she triples, I may have to cut a hole in the floor to accommodate her.

21 days ago.

Today.

Patty Papaya.

Cherry Baby.

Mai-Li Pineapple.

 

[George Parker]

Wow, that Thai looks like a new plant!

 

[Barry Manilow]

Hey Muggles greetings from another cfl grower, I love what you're doing here!

I'm in perlite but you can't help but learn a ton from all the great info out here. You want to hopefully get to a place where you can at worst ph down your tap water and be good to go. But first you need to know the total alkalinity (TA) of your water.

You can ph down all day but if the TA is too high you will be steadily adding salts to the soil and that's not good. If you have city or town water you can go to their website and they should have a report called 'water quality' or such. Check that out and find out both your ph and TA. If you have well water you'll need to test it with a meter. If your TA is above say 70 you'll need to dilute it with distilled water to get it to 70 or below.

While I'm thinking of it NEVER store your ph meter in or try to test distilled or RO water, you will break your meter.

Also plants eat chlorine, there's no reason to evaporate it out. It's fish that can't tolerate the chlorine.

I'm lucky, my city tap water is ph 9 but TA is only 65. I ph down to 6 - you want 6.8 in soil - add a light dose of cal/mag and I'm good to go. This is exactly what I hope you can do.

Then you can relax and enjoy your grow. Unless things look very bad I wouldn't lose any sleep worrying any more about ph.... I never check runoff or anything like that.

Lastly (sorry to go on and on) I had one of those cheapo soil ph testers and returned it, I couldn't make any sense out of it.

You have all the ingredients in place - good temps, good rh, good water (!), and good lighting. When all that is right you'll grow kick ass budz with any nutes.

I think your plants are looking great!

 

[Mork]

^^^^^ Yes plants tolerate chlorine in very small amounts, but the beneficial bacteria in the soil does not like chlorine because it kills them. LOL Letting the water sit overnight to have some of the chlorine disapate is a good idea especially if you plan on watering with tap water on a regular basis. I hardly ever use distilled water because the purification method removes the minerals that plants use to thrive.

Plants are looking a lot better

 

[Barry Manilow]

^^^^^ Yes plants tolerate chlorine in very small amounts, but the beneficial bacteria in the soil does not like chlorine because it kills them. LOL Letting the water sit overnight to have some of the chlorine disapate is a good idea especially if you plan on watering with tap water on a regular basis. I hardly ever use distilled water because the purification method removes the minerals that plants use to thrive.

Plants are looking a lot better

Ok that makes sense, I should stick with what little I do know which is hempy!

 

[Muggles13]

Wow, that Thai looks like a new plant!

^^^^^ Yes plants tolerate chlorine in very small amounts, but the beneficial bacteria in the soil does not like chlorine because it kills them. LOL Letting the water sit overnight to have some of the chlorine disapate is a good idea especially if you plan on watering with tap water on a regular basis. I hardly ever use distilled water because the purification method removes the minerals that plants use to thrive.

Plants are looking a lot better

I did pinch off some of the uglier dead and dying fan leave on both Patty and Mai-Li, nothing sadder than a pretty girl with acne. Strange, Cherry Baby has never shown any of the aches and pains of her sisters. Beginning to think they may have come from different suppliers.

 

[Muggles13]

Hey Muggles greetings from another cfl grower, I love what you're doing here!

I'm in perlite but you can't help but learn a ton from all the great info out here. You want to hopefully get to a place where you can at worst ph down your tap water and be good to go. But first you need to know the total alkalinity (TA) of your water.

You can ph down all day but if the TA is too high you will be steadily adding salts to the soil and that's not good. If you have city or town water you can go to their website and they should have a report called 'water quality' or such. Check that out and find out both your ph and TA. If you have well water you'll need to test it with a meter. If your TA is above say 70 you'll need to dilute it with distilled water to get it to 70 or below.

While I'm thinking of it NEVER store your ph meter in or try to test distilled or RO water, you will break your meter.

Also plants eat chlorine, there's no reason to evaporate it out. It's fish that can't tolerate the chlorine.

I'm lucky, my city tap water is ph 9 but TA is only 65. I ph down to 6 - you want 6.8 in soil - add a light dose of cal/mag and I'm good to go. This is exactly what I hope you can do.

Then you can relax and enjoy your grow. Unless things look very bad I wouldn't lose any sleep worrying any more about ph.... I never check runoff or anything like that.

Lastly (sorry to go on and on) I had one of those cheapo soil ph testers and returned it, I couldn't make any sense out of it.

You have all the ingredients in place - good temps, good rh, good water (!), and good lighting. When all that is right you'll grow kick ass budz with any nutes.

I think your plants are looking great!

Thanks BlueDog, I've checked out your grow before I started mine, looking for CFL info, the "Drill a damn hole" is what got my attention.

So I went to the city web site and they seem to be a little cryptic in their info. found nothing for PH or TA. What I found may or may not be helpful.
Specific Conductance 133
TDS 85 ppm
Hardness 47.8 ppm avg.
Sodium 4.5 ppm avg.
Calcium 15.9 ppm
Magnesium 3.4 ppm

I have an Oakton digital PH meter for checking water, just tested the waiting water and came up 8.1. The little soil tester in the pic is something I borrowed to see why I was putting in 6.4 and getting 7.? out, and it showed the soil in the 6.9-7.2 range.
On the subject of PH meter, the guy at the store said to store it with the 7.0 Standard Reference Solution in the protector cup. Is this a good idea or is he trying to sell another on before its time?

Thanks again for the help and encouragement, hope you'll check back now and then. Just want to learn as much as I can, and some day be able to help noobs like myself.

 

[Barry Manilow]

Thanks BlueDog, I've checked out your grow before I started mine, looking for CFL info, the "Drill a damn hole" is what got my attention.

So I went to the city web site and they seem to be a little cryptic in their info. found nothing for PH or TA. What I found may or may not be helpful.
Specific Conductance 133
TDS 85 ppm
Hardness 47.8 ppm avg.
Sodium 4.5 ppm avg.
Calcium 15.9 ppm
Magnesium 3.4 ppm

I have an Oakton digital PH meter for checking water, just tested the waiting water and came up 8.1. The little soil tester in the pic is something I borrowed to see why I was putting in 6.4 and getting 7.? out, and it showed the soil in the 6.9-7.2 range.
On the subject of PH meter, the guy at the store said to store it with the 7.0 Standard Reference Solution in the protector cup. Is this a good idea or is he trying to sell another on before its time?

Thanks again for the help and encouragement, hope you'll check back now and then. Just want to learn as much as I can, and some day be able to help noobs like myself.

Hey Muggles I'm glad to try and help! I'm guessing that TDS might be the same as TA but I would post this on DocBud's thread and ask him, he's the expert and always glad to help. If it is the same, you'll be borderline high but probably fine. You could dilute it a little if the plants aren't looking good. That's always the main thing, how are they looking? If they're looking good and healthy don't make any big or sudden changes.

Good luck and good growing!

 

[Barry Manilow]

Muggles I forget to say that while I don't have one, I've heard that's exactly how you should store your ph pen so I think you got good advice.

I'm going to post your water report on Doc's thread and see what he says...

 

[Chopper]

Like Dawggie.....I never check runoff or any of that crap.....I use a pool PH kit and do just fine outside and in under the CFLs. I use lemon juice to drop the tap water down to 6...or 5.8....or whatever. I do let the water sit out a day for chlorine. I go out of my way to make and feed those micro-organisms...one chlorine watering will undo it all. I use horse pasture soil, taken from under lemon trees where the fruit rots on the ground......somehow, it all works great! Don't over think this crap
PEACE

 

[Barry Manilow]

Hey Muggles we've been talking about your water lol.

QUOTE=BlueDog;1272018]Morning Doc! I'd like your take on this city water report, is TDS the same as TA?

Specific Conductance 133
TDS 85 ppm
Hardness 47.8 ppm avg.
Sodium 4.5 ppm avg.
Calcium 15.9 ppm
Magnesium 3.4 ppm

Thank you![/QUOTE]

Your water is nearly RO. Do you live in the mountains?

You'll have to add Cal/Mag to this water in hydro.

If you're in soil, I'd mix it up to be quite acidic....peat based, lots of organic material, etc. Then add Dolomite for the Cal-mag source. Or, you can add CalMag to your water in soil too....

I wish I had your water.

Looks like you've got great water my friend! If your soil is acidic enough you can evaporate the water for a day, add a little cal mag and you should be good too go!

If you want to learn all about building soils, water, and pretty much everything else involved with growing great pot, DocBud's grows are highly recommended.

 

[Muggles13]

Like Dawggie.....I never check runoff or any of that crap.....I use a pool PH kit and do just fine outside and in under the CFLs. I use lemon juice to drop the tap water down to 6...or 5.8....or whatever. I do let the water sit out a day for chlorine. I go out of my way to make and feed those micro-organisms...one chlorine watering will undo it all. I use horse pasture soil, taken from under lemon trees where the fruit rots on the ground......somehow, it all works great! Don't over think this crap
PEACE

Thanks again Chopper, one less step in the routine checking the out flow. Watered this morning with the same results, 6.3 in, 7.4 out

Hey Muggles we've been talking about your water lol.

QUOTE=BlueDog;1272018]Morning Doc! I'd like your take on this city water report, is TDS the same as TA?

Specific Conductance 133
TDS 85 ppm
Hardness 47.8 ppm avg.
Sodium 4.5 ppm avg.
Calcium 15.9 ppm
Magnesium 3.4 ppm

Thank you!

Looks like you've got great water my friend! If your soil is acidic enough you can evaporate the water for a day, add a little cal mag and you should be good too go!

If you want to learn all about building soils, water, and pretty much everything else involved with growing great pot, DocBud's grows are highly recommended.[/QUOTE]



Thanks for doing that BlueDog, I was going to post to DocPot tonight. Not in the mountains, the valley.
Have added Cal-Mag the last 2 waterings from earlier advise here.

 

[Muggles13]

Changing bulbs and switching to 12/12 at lights-out tonight.

End of Veg pictures.