Taxx's Super Lemon Haze Bubble SCROG CFL Cab Grow, 2010

[Taxx]

Hey Kotton, thanks for stopping buy! I appreciate the tips! Unfortunately the room I've chosen does not have a window to the outside world so a conventional window AC unit isn't an option. =(

The temps dropped to ~79F last night before I went to bed so I was feeling pretty good, but I woke up to over 90F again. I've placed 1 2L frozen contained and 1 3L frozen container into the cooler about 30 minutes ago, and dropped the pH of the res by .2. You can tell that the chiller I made works, at least, as the temp in the cooler was very high this morning as it pulled some of the heat out of the cab.

I've found an old beer fridge on Kijiji that I have a bid in for - hopefully I can pick that up and modify it this evening. Those temps will be the death of me (and the girls).

 

[Taxx]

Temps are back to 'normal' in the high 70s, low 80s range after adding the cooling to the cooler.

 

[basementdwell]

look @ my chiller link cheaper then the ones u can buy. You could always get one of those small friges instead. Ideal h20 temp are 65-78 the lower the better, it has more dissolved o2. over 75 deg and you gonna have root problems, IMHO

 

[Taxx]

Thanks for the tip Base - nice.

I didn't get a response from the guy with the beer fridge for sale, so I picked up a small Styrofoam cooler, and make 2 holes in it for my hoses to go through. This should help decrease the amount of energy I lose to the air in the room. When I checked on it this morning there was a puddle beneath the cooler! So I placed the small Styrofoam cooler inside of a larger 'normal' cooler to catch any of the water that leaks. All in all it seems to be working.

The temps in the cab were in the low 80s this morning, and the res was cooler using a touch test. The plants have started to grow again after being stunted for a while due to the heat problem. I'm hoping they can make a recovery so I can salvage this run.

All in all, the heat problem seems to have been dealt with now. I did learn how difficult it can be to deal with, and how important it is to deal with, so the construction of the next cab will be taking all of these things into account. The current cab will be used to hold the mother.

Pics when there's something worth showing.

 

[Taxx]

10 Days

Quick update;

I removed the screen for now to get the lights closer to the plants, and I'll add it again when it's needed. The screen being there was forcing me to keep the lights too far away, which in turn caused the plants to grow up really high. Then the plants couldn't support themselves, so I had to add a little support for them.

I read over the Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver thread, and it's been a great help. My pH is too high, so I'll be slowly lowering it over the next couple days. This has caused some nute deficiencies in them, which I'm hoping will also fix itself when the pH has been dropped to a more acceptable level. I'm currently around 6.2, and I'm going to try to get into the 5.5-5.8 range. This will hopefully get the plants the nutes they require so it can make the stems more sturdy and be able to support themselves.

I also picked up some 42W Daylight bulbs today and added them (after the pics were taken).

 

[Taxx]

Ok, had to do some work to salvage the disaster.

The cab was getting far too hot, which in turn made the res way too hot.
The res was almost impossible to get to, so doing a res change was a nightmare.
This made the res water bad, bad, bad - and you could tell from looking at the plants.

So, I made an ebb and flow system outside of the cab. Very simple setup - I wish I'd done this from the start! I've upped my lighting to 4 43w Daylight CFLs, and have some more ready to add to the mix when required. The temps are much better now - hovers around 84F during the day, and drops to ~75F at night.

I transplanted the plants from one system to the other, and after a couple days of shock and awe, they're growing again. The older growth is nute deficient and dying off, so I'll be trimming it off, likely tomorrow, as there is plenty of new growth now that's happy as could be.

Something interesting (I thought anyway) - when the new system floods, it goes up past where the stem met the Rockwool in the old system. The Hydrotron also goes past the Rockwool, so roots are popping out of the stem that's buried. One of the plants grew sideways a little bit after the transplant, so a lot of it's stem is buried going horizontal with roots popping out. All in all, they're pretty happy now

I'll get some pics up tomorrow.

 

[Drewhauz]

What's up Taxx, just found your journal. I like the way you think ahead and try to anticipate future problems. Good execution on the DIY setup.
For increased ventilation get a vortex fan or two, like 4", I know they're a little costly but it pays off in the end. I don't know how people control their cab temps with computer fans or other weak fans. In these cabs, heat and space limitations are the #1 enemy. I did the AC thing for a bit, but I was the only mofo in New England running his AC in September and October...kind of suspicious. I know you said you don't have windows to the outside, but as long as your room gets cool enough just increase the ventilation through the cab so the temp. stays roughly the same as your room...but hey that chiller setup is a good idea. I hope it works for you throughout the grow.
Anyways I'm dying to see how the SLH turns out, so keep up the diligent work.

 

[Taxx]

Hey Drew, thanks for stopping by and thanks for the tips.

I've ditched the cab for this grow, and moved to an Ebb and Flow setup outside of the cab to try and save them. Here are a couple pictures from the last week - I'd say they're liking their new environment.

Plant 1, Oct 11th

Plant 1, Oct 17th

Plant 2, Oct 11th

Plant 2, Oct 17th

I changed the res this week and it was a piece of cake compared to messing with my bubbler system. I have to add about a half gallon of water daily to top it up.

I FIMed them yesterday, or maybe the day before, and they've branched a lot since then. I plan to do it again next week.

I added a 65W 2700k CFL today to the 4 45W 6500k CFLs that have been there this week. I also picked up 4 45W 2700k CFLs this week in anticipation of switching to flower cycle/lighting in a couple weeks.

I need to start thinking about my screen again, and new ways to clamp the lights. They're just attached to the side of the bin at the moment, but the plants are pushing height limit that the edge allows. With a little thinking I should be able to make one unit to clamp the lights to and hold the screen.

More updates to come when there's something worth posting.

 

[Ibetwistin]

 

[foxfarmguyZ]

shit man that plant is a beastly (bottom picture) you should super crop it. get some more bud out of that little lady

 

[Taxx]

Alrighty - well, first a couple pics of my solution to the lighting and screen solution, with their new home.

What I did, which I now see that I didn't capture on the camera very well, was to place two old workshelves running longways beside the Rubbermaid bin. I can attach a screen to the bottom of the shelves, which is about 1 foot above the growing medium. These shelves also give me a place to rest 4 foot 2x4's across, over the plants, which I can clamp my lights to and hang them upside down. The height of the 2x4's is easily adjust using various odds and ends laying around the home (small boxes, for example).

On the shelves below the ones used to hold the lights/screen I've setup a couple of fans. One is your typical oscillating fan, which is on low, and gets plenty of air across the plants. I have 2 other 9" fans that I've duct taped carbon pre-filters to, that are supposed to be used for my Honeywell HEPA filter. these also blow over the plants, but are pointed slightly higher in order to hit the lights more-so than the plants. The big carbon filter I made is stuck on the side, pulling air in and moving it away from the growing area. On the very top shelf I placed a 5" inline fan and put more of the carbon pre-filter to either side of it, using elastic bands to hold them in place. Overall this is working well so far - the room has a scent to it, but nothing outside of the room has any odour at all. If Odour becomes a problem, I'm going to use -------'s ONA Stink Eating Bucket idea. (I didn't realize his name is not to be used in threads, as it was automatically filtered out).

So.. when I went into the room yesterday I noticed that the 65W 2700k CFL was too heavy for the clamp to hold is where I put it (this was before I rearranged the room, and why I did it so quickly). It ended up resting on the top of the larger plant, causing some burn. Ick. The plant didn't seem to mind too much though, as it's still growing where I'd burnt it.

And other photos of them, taking about an hour ago;

Plant 1

Plant 2

I have a fire drill in my condo on Wednesday morning, and they need access to each of the units to ensure all the alarms and whatnot are working properly. I don't think they'll need access to that room, but just in case I'm stacking a bunch of "crap" up in there. I'll kill the fans while they're here so the room isn't humming. Alls I know is my fingers will be crossed!

 

[Taxx]

Update time.

Fire drill was a piece of cake. They were in and out of my place in under 2 minutes, so that was a relief. I took lots of precautions, and it worked out well.

Res change on Wednesday and upped the Nutes in the res by 10%. They seem to be drinking about 1 gallon a day now. When I topped the res this morning I added a cap full of the Nutes, and 10 drops of the MG that I had previously. Again, res change with ebb and flow is easy peasy.

I FIMed both of them again today, and Super Cropped the smaller one of the two yesterday - the bigger one doesn't need any help! I started LSTing them last weekend and gave them a quite a workout this morning as well.

Photos for you;

Plant 2

Top view of Plant 2

Side of Plant 1

Plant 1

Top View of Plant 1

Under Growth

Shot of the growing area and lights

You can't see anything in the area shot except for light reflectors, but that's just fine by me

These gals are loving the love I've been giving them according to the week by week pictures. By LSTing them I've managed to keep their height under control, and with the extra light penetration there has been a lot of branching throughout both the plants.

Current lighting is 2x 65W 2700k CFL, 2x 45W 2700k CFL, and 4x 45W 6500k CFL.

Depending on how they look next week I might flip them to flower light/nute cycle. If they keep up their explosive growth then i should be able to add the screen and start getting the branch tips up threw it. We'll see though.

Anywho - that's that.

 

[Sky Rocket]

Just found your journal. Next time if you decide to use your grow box I suggest you have a intakefan at the bottom and exhaust fan at the top to get rid of your hot air. Your seedlings ealier was strecthing for light. Next timeyou want to lower the lights to reduce strecthing. Also with seedling you don't have to feed them for about 2 to 3 weeks. But youseem to have things under control.

 

[Taxx]

Thanks for the feedback Sky Rocket =)

I tried to vent the box with what I had, but apparently what I had wasn't enough. I will be using it again though to hold a mother plant after I clone Plant 2, so when that time comes I'll be sure to beef up the ventilation. I have a couple extra 5" incline duct fans, with a plan for one of them. The other one I'll use as an extra draw out of the cab, and modify my carbon filter to have two intakes with a T connector - one with the existing 4" inline fan, and another with the additional 5". Hopefully that will help

Question about mother plants - should i keep it under 24 hour light? And what type of wattage should i give it to sustain itself without encouraging too much growth? Any info on this would be appreciated as I'm getting close to cloning time.

 

[Sky Rocket]

Thanks for the feedback Sky Rocket =)

I tried to vent the box with what I had, but apparently what I had wasn't enough. I will be using it again though to hold a mother plant after I clone Plant 2, so when that time comes I'll be sure to beef up the ventilation. I have a couple extra 5" incline duct fans, with a plan for one of them. The other one I'll use as an extra draw out of the cab, and modify my carbon filter to have two intakes with a T connector - one with the existing 4" inline fan, and another with the additional 5". Hopefully that will help

Question about mother plants - should i keep it under 24 hour light? And what type of wattage should i give it to sustain itself without encouraging too much growth? Any info on this would be appreciated as I'm getting close to cloning time.

You can keep your moms at 24 or 18/6. I'm going to keep my moms at 18/6. That way I can save on electrcity cost. You can keep your mom under cfls or a cheap shop light (t5's or 8's). I too have slh about the same age as yours if not a little bit younger. I should have my journal up here and running tomorrow.

 

[Taxx]

Been over a week since my last update. Life got silly. It's less silly now, so here we go.

I've been training them almost daily for the last week+, and it's been paying off. I've kept their heights down to about 9" at the highest point. I added the screen last night and flipped the lighting to 12/12 today - lights go off in 2 hours for their first taste of 12 hour darkness. I picked up some flower nutes as well, and I mixed 50/50 of the veg nutes and flower nutes.

When I was training them I snapped one of the larger branches pretty darn good. I just reversed the tie on it from being pulled to one side that broke it, to being pulled towards the stem is broke off of. That's all the attention I gave to it, and it's healed up just fine.

I also picked up a cloner container so I can pluck some of the lower, light deprived areas. I also grabbed the nutes for cloning as well, and I expect to take a couple clippings in the next day or two.

Here's some photos of them from a couple hours ago;

The room (raised the lights when I added the screen to promote stretching a little);

Screen shots;

Bondage shots;

The scent is well under control now. I added an ONA bucket near the door to the room, and raised the carbon filter so the opening is near the ceiling on the opposite side of the room. There is no smell in the place (not even the urinal cake smell from the ONA), and very minimal smell in the room itself. The combo of the ONA and the filter is doing wonders.

That's that. Fingers are crosses that the feminized seeds actually turn out to be females.

 

[Taxx]

Took 3 clippings from each plant today since their gender hasn't been confirmed and marked the rockwool with different colour toothpicks. This helped clear out some of the undergrowth to help the air move around. Once their gender is known I'll be a happy camper.

After the first day of 12/12 there's quite a bit of new growth. I didn't expect that, but I'm not complaining. I'm hoping they'll show sex within the next week or so.

Pics when there's something worth showing.

 

[j4s2u0]

Looking good!

 

[Taxx]

Thanks j4. =)

A couple updates, but no pictures.

I picked up a 200W 2700k CFL with a reflector today and rigged it up to the ceiling with a chain. As I was poking holes into the ceiling to attach the hardware I had a friend of mine run the vacuum to catch any debris that would fall down. Well with the vacuum and all the lights on, the spare fridge decided to start up and....... darkness. I blew the freakin circuit. My electrical box is old school (this place was built in the 70s) so it wasn't as easy as flipping the breaker back on. Anyway, I pulled a fuse from another place in the house and ran out to the local hardware store to pick up a new fuse (and a couple spares) and fixed that. I also got to see how many outlets in my place was connected to the same circuit, so I made some adjustments to lower the load (fridge is off now - it was almost empty anyway) and unscrewed some of the lights that weren't really needed. I should be good to go now (I hope).

I also picked up some MagiCal and a Carb booster. The pics I post of some of the leaves will show the deficiencies that made me buy the MagiCal (Cal/Mag), and I'm in flower now so the Carb booster just made sense.

Current lightings is 200W, 3x65W, 1x45W 2700k (440W total)- all CFLs. I'm going to see about getting some bottom/side lighting in tomorrow when the lights come back on.

All in all I'm happy with the way things are progressing. They're stretching like mad right now so I've had to tame the beasts pretty heavy today.

Pics tomorrow.

 

[Taxx]

Nov 12

Topped off the res with another gallon on water. Thirsty girls, considering there's only 2 of them.

Here are some shots of the older leaves that show the deficiencies that I think are Cal/Mag induced. New growth has been unaffected, but I've added a CalMag additive just in case.

Here's a couple shots of the new lighting setup. After the pics were taken I added 2 26W 6500k bulbs, in a reflector with a Y connector, to the back corner along the base of the container. That side, due to the training, is lower than the rest of the plants, so I'm hoping that it will help encourage that area to grow more. This will also give some light to the underbush - it's pretty messy down there!

Here is a shot of the less-full corner that I added the under lighting to.

And here's some random growth shots.

This is day 8 of being in the flower cycle. Not too much going on yet, other than a lot (and I mean a lot) of stretching.
Taxx.