Tokists' Soil Afghan Kush Grow HPS vs. CFL

[Tokist]

oh, and also! in response to lester:

thats not their final home. they're moving into a 3x2 pack and play after this. ill probably kill the runt and just have four plants in that small area. or i might use the runt as my LST guinea pig so i can gather data for my next grow.

my biggest issue at the moment is that i dont know where the buds are going to form, mostly. if i knew what the hell i was growing i could prune accordingly, but i'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Tokist]

nothin much new to report. i did take a picture of one of the plants so we can at least log their progress. and she's looking mighty fine! lots of new growth since the massacre. they're starting to get their cannabis smell back too.

what do you mean? did they lose their smell?

for sure! one of my favorite things to do is smell the top of my plants, cuz they've been letting off a nice stink. however, when i cut the fan leaves, they instantly lost their smell. instead, the top smelled like the cut stem of a dandelion or any other plant.

the word "auxins" came to me from a thread i'd read awhile back. so i googled it. i couldn't get any real answers unless i read journals from science magazines that are kinda dry.

after much deciphering, i came up with this. (correct me if i'm wrong).

auxins are the hormone that are responsible for cell and shoot development in plants. as new leaves form they release auxins farther up along the plant so they can continue making more stems and leaves. thusly, auxins are always kept at the top of the plant, constantly moving upwards.

when a stem or leaf is cut, auxins immediately stop what they're doing (hence, shock from being pruned - growth halts or slows) and move to the affected site(s). therefore, i can assume that the auxins are what are responsible for the delicious aroma we all come to know and love.

and now the picture!

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i'm gonna feed em and hit the sack. got classes tomorrow!

gnight all

 

[JB42]

Niiiice!!!!!!!!

 

[Tokist]

ok, so, im lookin at my plants right now and... while nothing LOOKS amiss, i get the feeling that they're pushing the rootbound envelope. i think by tomorrow the symptoms will truly start to manifest themselves, which is why tomorrow i've scheduled a transplant with the surgeon.

im waiting for tomorrow because i still have to go buy more soil and planters. i've only got about half a large bag of the fox farm ocean forest left and thats not enough to fill all the planters. i really dont want to drive all the way to the hydro shop today tho....

 

[JB42]

They looking good tokist mate

was thinking they would need re-potting today, then I come on an your thinking the same. Re-pot them bitches, they need a new home.

 

[Tokist]

They looking good tokist mate

was thinking they would need re-potting today, then I come on an your thinking the same. Re-pot them bitches, they need a new home.

is it weird that i FELT it, rather than observed it? does that like... make me a plant whisperer or something? dude... i could make a youtube channel and i'll call myself "the bud whisperer".

aw man, i can see it now. they'll come from all around. they'll bow to me! they'll make me THEIR KING!!! they will THROW free nutes and seeds at me and BEG me to grow for them!

mua hahahahahah1!!!!1111SHIFT+1!!!!

i'ma go smoke a bowl and keep daydreamin'.

 

[JB42]

hhaha you must be mate. "The BUD Whisperer" haha.

I need a bowl more than anything at the min mate!

Edited 2hr later "GOT ONE"

 

[wyrman]

WOW! Just found this and got caught up So much good info here,, I'll hang around because I know I can learn something here!

 

[greensmurf]

love it. your going to have to call your plant audry (lil shop of horror) reference.
and it will say "feeeed meeee Tokist"

 

[Tokist]

Day Zero

today begins day 0 for flowering.

wait! what the hell man, you disappear for like a week and now you're flowering? what'd we miss?!

oh... my bad!

so, i repotted the plants into 3GAL containers and then i moved them into their temporary containment area until i decided what to do about flowering. the transplant went fairly smooth but they were NOT happy after.

here's a snapshot of the roots. i took several more but my phone seems to have misplaced them.

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the next morning all their leaves were droopy and i felt a bit bad. here's their ghetto holding area:

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here's some close-ups:

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i had actually intended to keep them there until i realized, "wait a second... the dark cycle needs to be like... PITCH black. FUCK!"

so my wife came up with the great idea of moving some things around in the closet and making room in there. and bless her heart, when i came home from work today, it was all ready to go! here's there new home:

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those are the nutes i'm using and the nasty bucket they're in. i fed the girls that entire bucket and filled it back up and i've now got a batch of c-tea going for the next couple of days.

um... dude... you're missing a plant....

oh yea, i killed the runt. the dude at the hydro shop said it wasn't worth it, as well as one of my buddies at work. i had planned to keep it at first and use it for testing, but the clincher was the lack of space. ah well.

you might be able to tell from the photos which light is which. CFL is on the right, HPS on the left. i can tell just by looking at the lights side by side that the HPS, although a lower wattage, is giving off way more lumens. the light penetrates and hits just about every leaf. i feel like im wasting my time using a cfl, but... it's all in the name of science.

if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. perhaps my plants could be rearranged to better receive light?

thanks all!

happy toking!

 

[Lester Freeman]

I'm liking the new and improved set up. Way to go.
So your flowering now... interesting.
I'm going to start flowering my plants soon too.

 

[Tokist]

interesting good or interesting bad?

they've been vegging for about a month or so. i understand that once you start flowering, they double in height. if i let them get too much taller, they're going to grow above the lights before it's all said and done. the lights aren't hanging off the ceiling, but rather the rod that my shirts WERE hanging on.

 

[greensmurf]

I guess it all depends on how much you want. mine vegged for 60+ days and are now in 2nd week of flower

 

[Tokist]

I guess it all depends on how much you want. mine vegged for 60+ days and are now in 2nd week of flower

lol, there's no way I can veg that long. one plant would fill that closet.

 

[JB42]

Yeah man Tokist they looking great man!! So the HPS is a 400w, whats the cfl, a 250/300w. Dam I was using them for a while , knew I needed to vivit grow shop soon but used them again last time, 2 of them., But the difference you can see in the pictures clearly blows CFL out of the water for flower!!! I'l be hitting grow shop next week

They look great mate, going to be good this one.

 

[Tokist]

Yeah man Tokist they looking great man!! So the HPS is a 400w, whats the cfl, a 250/300w. Dam I was using them for a while , knew I needed to vivit grow shop soon but used them again last time, 2 of them., But the difference you can see in the pictures clearly blows CFL out of the water for flower!!! I'l be hitting grow shop next week

They look great mate, going to be good this one.

haha, no, brother. even better, that hps is only 150W. the cfl is 300W. the cfl barely looks like it's on in comparison. the field of light from the hps is even larger and bleeds onto the two plants on the right a wee bit. so, while this won't be a fair fight, it'll shut a lot of people up. i'm all about the search for truth. i like to know how and why. the more you know, the better you... grow. um, yea. that was lame. we'll just keep that between us.

i recommend EVERYONE visit a grow shop if you can. it's usually cheaper than buying online (unless they dont know you): i scored a big bag (1.5cuFt) of fox farms ocean forest for 20 bucks. normally goes for 25-30 on amazon, plus 10 bucks shipping. his nutes are cheaper, his lights are cheaper, everything's cheaper. and the best part is that when something doesn't work, i can take it back. plus, he used to hook me up with free samples til i went organic. he doesnt carry much organic stuff, and what he does is expensive, lol.

gotta get to class.

peace!

 

[JB42]

haha, no, brother. even better, that hps is only 150W. the cfl is 300W. the cfl barely looks like it's on in comparison. the field of light from the hps is even larger and bleeds onto the two plants on the right a wee bit. so, while this won't be a fair fight, it'll shut a lot of people up. i'm all about the search for truth. i like to know how and why. the more you know, the better you... grow. um, yea. that was lame. we'll just keep that between us.

Nah man thats cool, course the more you know the better you grow, good point!!

No way is that a 150W and that a 300w, my missus just slapped me for waste of electric ahah only jokin, but defo going grow shop next weekend. Too many things needed paying this week.

 

[Tokist]

Nah man thats cool, course the more you know the better you grow, good point!!

No way is that a 150W and that a 300w, my missus just slapped me for waste of electric ahah only jokin, but defo going grow shop next weekend. Too many things needed paying this week.

don't act stoned... BE stoned. --zac

well, it would seem i read the date wrong. cpr cert is NEXT saturday, not this saturday. got up early for nothing!

and yessir! that hps is only 150W. i find it hard to believe myself, but it's the truth. more wattage does NOT equal more light. the average 150W hps produces anywhere between 14000-18000 lumens.

now here's the tricky part. when i tried to find a cfl watts/lumens comparison chart, i got a lot of conflicting data. one was from a dude who did a write-up about how CFLs were greater than or equal to HIDs, and he went on to quote a bunch of bogus information, trying to tell me that the CFL i had gives off about 21,000 lumens. anyone who looks at this photo:

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will be able to tell the light on the left is at least twice as bright as the one on the right. so i did some more digging, and found another cfl fanboy who says that a cfl gives off about 50-70 lumens per watt. which would mean my 300w cfl can produce between 15,000 and 21,000 lumens.

then i found a thread where a guy says "my 300W cfl produces 4700 lumens!!!" and there were several reply's stating, "dude, that's way too low. just use this calculation, and you'll see. you're producing more like 20,000 lumens."

that there's another example of stupid people regurgitating what they saw somewhere else as if it were fact. and this is why we have so much misinformation in this community. friends... when someone tells you something, even one of the pro's here, don't blindly accept it as fact. research it. find two more sources that agree and at least ONE that doesn't and read both sides. oftentimes, you will see that even when a hundred people agree with something, the review from that ONE person will oftentimes be the only legitimate answer. they were the only one willing to take the time to go against the grain and offer you truth. if you blindly accept what everyone tells you, you're an idiot.

how will you know what the truth is? easy. because it's the truth.

i went to the source, where i bought my cfl from. guess what?

it's only 4200 lumens.

so, twice the wattage, less than 25% of the light.

folks, if ANYONE tries to tell you that a cfl is >= an hid, tell em to eat shit and bark at the moon.

cfl's are nothing more than a cheap alternative for people on a budget. and THAT'S OK! use what you got. but just because you have 50 cfl's all aimed at one plant, does not make you a master grower, nor does it make your cfl's gods gift to photosynthesis. oh, and by the way. lumens do not stack the way you think they do. 2 50W cfls does do not produce the same lumens of 1 100W cfl. so adding a ton of cfls to your grow does not mean you have equiv lumens to an hid.

however!

i will continue the grow as planned, because some people refuse to believe numbers and hard data. when y'all see the comparison at the end of this grow, then we will see.

the truth shall set you free, my friends.

now, go forth and make sure i'm not pulling your leg. i might be one of those HID fanboys

edit: i saw this on amazon. it's a 300W cfl that says right in the product name that its 52 lumens per watt. i said to myself, "good lord, what a bold-faced lie!"

turns out, that calculation refers to ACTUAL wattage, not perceived. so its 52 lumens multiplied by 65W, not 300W. for that bulb, that's less than 4000 lumens. what a joke!

go get you a cheap little hydrofarm 150W hps off amazon for 70 bucks (s'what im using) and be happy! but support your local business and buy from them!

 

[JB42]

REEEEPS ON THE INFO MATE
Great post, this is a great journal!! Yeah all great info mate! It doesnt even seem that CFL is a cheap budget alternative, its a full waste of money, power and time. Great post mate. They have their uses in cloning , seedling but when Veg kicks in you might as well be using a MH HID, and HPS Flower or a mix of both for flower.

I get nice buds with something producing nearly 75% less than a HPS, mate I cant wait to get my HID's next week!!

 

[Tokist]

REEEEPS ON THE INFO MATE
Great post, this is a great journal!! Yeah all great info mate! It doesnt even seem that CFL is a cheap budget alternative, its a full waste of money, power and time. Great post mate. They have their uses in cloning , seedling but when Veg kicks in you might as well be using a MH HID, and HPS Flower or a mix of both for flower.

I get nice buds with something producing nearly 75% less than a HPS, mate I cant wait to get my HID's next week!!

well, everyone will tell you that you can veg with a cfl just fine, you just need to keep it REAL close to the plant or you'll get that stretching problem that i had. that being said, i can't say for sure. i didn't have a metal halide light for veg'ing although next time, i might. i suppose that since fruiting takes so much more of the plants energy, it needs so much more light to realize its full potential. that's not to say you can't fruit with a cfl, people do it all the time. it just comes down to quality.

either way, i'm sold. next grow is straight hid. hell, the lux rating (area of lumination) is even higher than on a cfl. i bet if i raised my hid light a tad and centered it, rearranged my plants a bit, i could get more light on all those plants than that stupid cfl can get on one.

what kinda lights are you getting, jbc?