Tokists' Soil Afghan Kush Grow HPS vs. CFL

[Tokist]

nothing much to report these past couple of days. the plants have kinda stopped upwards growth ever since i supercropped. they're getting a bit more axillary growth, so i'll let that continue on. i think i'm gonna withold further cuttings or anything else stressful for awhile. still no new hair growth, that i can spot. probably due to the excess stress from fucking with em.

it's natures turn now. i only wish i could put them in the sun.

the clones are doin great! the stems are rigid and anchored feeling again. the leaves aren't droopy and soft, they're alert and firm. the bottom of the rockwool cubes reveal the itty-bitty white tips starting to poke through. i'd take a picture, but i really don't wanna mess with all that for one photo. i'll wait til the next photo-op. i think it's safe to say the clones were a success.

in other news, i managed to fix the light fixture my friend loaned me. i dont know if i've stated before, but it holds eight 48" T5 bulbs, and all the tombstones are rewired and working perfectly. each bulb gives off 5000 lumens, which adds up to a nice 40,000 lumens. from my understanding, that's equivalent to about a 400W HPS. best part being that it gives off this amount of light in a 4'x2' area. when i can buy eight new T5 bulbs (about $15/ea.) i'll retire the current lights from this grow.

gnight all!

 

[Tokist]

the plants made up for the lack of growth this past couple of days in one night. when they woke up, plant 2 was touching the lamp. lots. luckily, her leaves were touching the enclosure and not the bulb itself. moved the light up a few inches.

plants 3 and 4 grew a bit too but still no need for me to move their light.

still no readily visible bud sites yet.

gonna head out to walmart, home depot and the grow shop to see if i can't score some lights. also need some new airstones and hosing.

what i really NEED are more nutes, but my grow shop guy ran out of big bloom again. i told the bastard to start stocking one gallon jugs, but whatever.

thinking of taking a couple of these here clones and putting one or two in hempy buckets. then i can stick em under the lights in between the current pots or something. then i can start up some plants with some chem nutes i have leftover my last grow! ooo, im so excited!

damnit... i don't have any coke bottles.

 

[KushMeister]

Subbed and starting from the beginning.

 

[Tokist]

Subbed and starting from the beginning.

heeeey! i recognize that name!

thanks for swinging by, brother! sorry to hear about your one plant. an unscheduled topping is never good. but you learned for next time! for what it's worth, i've seen pot plants that have been broken damn near in half, with nothing but their cambium layer holding them together and they still came back to life. just gotta leave that tape on there for like two weeks

my girls have just now recovered from the mild supercrop i did a few days ago and are going back into overdrive. i just can't wait til i see actual, full-on bud sites.

 

[KushMeister]

heeeey! i recognize that name!

thanks for swinging by, brother! sorry to hear about your one plant. an unscheduled topping is never good. but you learned for next time! for what it's worth, i've seen pot plants that have been broken damn near in half, with nothing but their cambium layer holding them together and they still came back to life. just gotta leave that tape on there for like two weeks

my girls have just now recovered from the mild supercrop i did a few days ago and are going back into overdrive. i just can't wait til i see actual, full-on bud sites.

Two weeks? OK then. Thanks and +reps! For some silly reason I thought a couple of days was appropriate. Yup, live and learn. I'm not too worried if one top doesn't make it. Just cleared up some light for the half dozen more ready to take it's place.

I'm still playing catch up!

 

[KushMeister]

Two weeks? OK then. Thanks and +reps! For some silly reason I thought a couple of days was appropriate. Yup, live and learn. I'm not too worried if one top doesn't make it. Just cleared up some light for the half dozen more ready to take it's place.

I'm still playing catch up!

Caught up!

Looks like you've been fucking around with your plants more than I have. And they're still alive.

 

[JB42]

He like's the trial and error and finding out for himself this one kushmeister lol. Great learning journal though. He puts the tests side by side. At least at the end he will know his info is correct.

I did a lot of testing at one stage, it works great in the end.

 

[KushMeister]

He like's the trial and error and finding out for himself this one kushmeister lol. Great learning journal though. He puts the tests side by side. At least at the end he will know his info is correct.

I did a lot of testing at one stage, it works great in the end.

Yeah I agree. Testing is a great way to figure out what these plants can handle. Even if you don't get the best results every time.

I like the side by side comparison idea. I don't have the set up for that.

 

[Tokist]

He like's the trial and error and finding out for himself this one kushmeister lol. Great learning journal though. He puts the tests side by side. At least at the end he will know his info is correct.

I did a lot of testing at one stage, it works great in the end.

too true, brother. too true!

i've definitely paid for my fucking around though. my plants are not anywhere near what i envisioned them being. but that just goes to show that what you read and what you apply are two totally different things. sorta like going to basic training and then going in to actual combat. you throw out everything you learned and rely on muscle memory.

right now i'm building the muscle memory, so to speak

on to the update!

flower day 18

nothing's really changed since the last update as far as the four main girls are concerned. except that they've recovered fully from the supercrop and have nice hard knuckles where they were pinched. this was their cue to start upwards growth again. the tallest plant (as usual) is number 2 at 32". i didn't measure the other plants. still no buds poppin up yet

here's a snapshot right before the lights turned off:

​

i'm having issues keeping the humidity down when i close the door at night. i have to take the fan out because i need the drone to help me sleep so they get no air movement at night. humidity gets as high as 70%. that's a no go! i've found a dehumidifier on craigslist for fifty bucks. might look in to it.

i've also noticed some tiny bugs flying around. not sure what they are. i think they're a result of runoff being left in the drip pans. must be a byproduct of using compost water. the plants as of yet seem to be unaffected by these pests. there's only a couple so far. gonna dig up a bag of diatomaceous earth and sprinkle it on the soil maybe. that's organic, right?

the biggest update this time are the clones! they've all rooted, some look pretty bad. i tossed the ones out that had totally yellowed leaves. probably could have kept em, but honestly, i didnt have the room. i took two of the healthiest looking babies and kept em for myself and set them up in a custom hempy bucket. the rest i packaged up and my veteran grower came and snagged em.

my custom hempy buckets have probably already been done somewhere out there, but i got the idea from my vet friend. he said that what he used to do in his old hydro grows was put his plants in a five gallon bucket full of hydroton and at the bottom was a huge airstone. he'd tell me how the roots always went to where the airstone was because they looooved all that extra oxygen. so i applied the same principle to my hempy bucket.

​

here's the two babies i transplanted:

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you may not be able to tell, but those clones were way too short to do the hempy as instructed in the various tutorials. so i had to improvise! for now, all i'm doing is pouring enough ctea in there to soak the rockwool cube. once i feel the roots have gotten deep enough, i'll start giving regular doses and crank up the airstones. this is probably considered a bit unorthodox, but as you may or may not have noticed, that's what i'm all about. uncle sam trained me well

soooo, that's it for now.

 

[Tokist]

Yeah I agree. Testing is a great way to figure out what these plants can handle. Even if you don't get the best results every time.

I like the side by side comparison idea. I don't have the set up for that.

hope you enjoyed the ride so far! as you can see, i did everything wrong!

i also like the side by side comparison but it was only about two weeks into it that you begin to see the difference in growth. i also learned that a 150W hps is not enough to grow two plants the way i did it. neither plant is getting enough light.

my hydro guy is out of the 48" T5 bulbs in the red spectrum so they won't be in for about 2 weeks. me and my buddy ordered sixteen in total so we'll be set. soon as i can, i intend to get those plants under 40,000 lumens.

thanks for checking out my grow

 

[KushMeister]

hope you enjoyed the ride so far! as you can see, i did everything wrong!

i also like the side by side comparison but it was only about two weeks into it that you begin to see the difference in growth. i also learned that a 150W hps is not enough to grow two plants the way i did it. neither plant is getting enough light.

my hydro guy is out of the 48" T5 bulbs in the red spectrum so they won't be in for about 2 weeks. me and my buddy ordered sixteen in total so we'll be set. soon as i can, i intend to get those plants under 40,000 lumens.

thanks for checking out my grow

It's a learning process and they're still alive.

 

[JB42]

Hey tokist mate, I been really busy this week, but bak on it again.

Girls looking good even though you de-branched them, still going to be a good harvest. The little bugs flying around will prob be fungus knats , very common in soil. You can cover the soil with some stones or something to kill them off and like all soil loving pests dry the medium a bit. They can be annoying buy it only a few , not too much too worry about. In severe cases they can start eating the stem but if i was you do some research on how to kill em as them will be knats. I had them once but not too bad of an infestation .

 

[KushMeister]

Hey tokist mate, I been really busy this week, but bak on it again.

Girls looking good even though you de-branched them, still going to be a good harvest. The little bugs flying around will prob be fungus knats , very common in soil. You can cover the soil with some stones or something to kill them off and like all soil loving pests dry the medium a bit. They can be annoying buy it only a few , not too much too worry about. In severe cases they can start eating the stem but if i was you do some research on how to kill em as them will be knats. I had them once but not too bad of an infestation .

To control fungus gnats, I've been using Diatomaceous Earth (DE). When the top layer of soil is dry, spread a few tablespoons worth around on the top of the soil. Try to cover all the soil so the gnats can't get out without brushing the DE. Also, spread a few tablespoons around in the drip trays making sure to get it under the pot too. The idea is to get it in any access points to the soil. DE will lose it's effectiveness after you water, so reapply it between watering. You will probably have to apply it a few times, but eventually your gnat problem will not be a problem anymore.

DE is totally inert, won't effect your NPK in other words. It is pure silica so it is actually a great soil amendment too. DE comes in a couple of different grades. Get the one you can find in your garden store pest control area, not the type used as a swimming pool filter media.

 

[greensmurf]

I just got all caught up on your journal. I was sick with bronchitis then the flu and havent done much since.

ahhh hahahahaha!!!!

"which sorry to say you dont have many left"

i have no idea how that happened....

good thing you clarified cuz i was all ready to just tie the top of the damn plant to the side of the pot, lmfao!!! wow, maybe i should put the pipe down.

ok, so definitely a lesson learned for the next grow. no debranchiating! i'll toke with my girls later on tonight and see how far down the rabbit hole they're willing to experiment.

sigh.... those poor branches....

I almost pissed myself laughing. sorry I was away for the clarification.

how are they all doing now?

 

[Tokist]

I just got all caught up on your journal. I was sick with bronchitis then the flu and havent done much since.





I almost pissed myself laughing. sorry I was away for the clarification.

how are they all doing now?

they're all doing alright. i finally had my buddy come over (who has been growin for the past 20 years) and he pretty much gave it to me straight. the plants are terrible.

there're so many things that went wrong with this grow that it's almost not worth continuing. the work it would take to maintain isn't worth the measly harvest. they've finally started to bud. yesterday i started noticing hairs all over the place. this morning they were a few millimeters long and now (nearly 5pm) they're gettin' crazy long. plant 2 is getting way too tall, she's fixin to outgrow the light. i might have to just kill her off.

here in a few days we'll be moving to our new house. has plenty of grow space: 4 bedrooms, plus a shed attached to the house. good sized back yard too, fenced off from the neighbors.

i haven't got any pics because honestly, i'm far too lazy right now. we just spent all day shopping and i just wanna sit and smoke a bowl. perhaps later on this evening i'll post some photos.

once we move into our new house, my buddy's gonna be moving his old grow equipment in and things're goin into overdrive. he's got thousand watt lamps and parabolic reflectors for days. he's a certified master plumber and is quite proficient at designing hydroponic systems. i'm truly blessed to have his assistance.

so, i may be killing this grow log and starting a fresh one in my new house.

our plans are a 20 plant perpetual SOG that nets approx 2lbs/month. we were thinkin about reverting my current girls back to veg and using them for clones but i told him that we'd be better off buying seeds off the internet and starting with a few known good strains.

what do y'all think?

i showed him a few of the really good grows on here, like 420fied's bpn hempy grow and he scoffed at them. "those abercrombie and fitch grow methods are for kids, man. you won't get no real yield off of that. look at how stringy those damn buds are"

he's a bit too old fashioned for his own good, but i think i can convert him. he's open to doing side by side grows to see what nets a better product (e.g. chem vs organics).

anyways, i'm rambling. i'll be back tonight for some pics, hopefully. beyond that, updates will be few and far between until after the move.

thanks for checkin' in!

 

[JB42]

Easy man, Just let me say I love this journal and things may of gone a bit different to how you planned but you was just experimenting in different methods. I loved the CFL vs HPS, that was a great side by side test and the taking defoil too far thing lol was great.

If you starting a new one on the ways you just said than thats cool, it'l be a great grow to watch for sure.

Either way I had fun here and will follow your next if you choose to make one. Keep it green mate

 

[Tokist]

Easy man, Just let me say I love this journal and things may of gone a bit different to how you planned but you was just experimenting in different methods. I loved the CFL vs HPS, that was a great side by side test and the taking defoil too far thing lol was great.

If you starting a new one on the ways you just said than thats cool, it'l be a great grow to watch for sure.

Either way I had fun here and will follow your next if you choose to make one. Keep it green mate

thanks for the kind words, jbc.

turns out the house we were getting had some hidden fees associated with it. various other incidents led me to believe that perhaps god's telling me that this ain't the house for me. so we've nixed the idea and we're stuck in this abysmal 1 bedroom apartment for a bit longer.

the bad news is that plant 2 will outgrow the light in another day or two. i've raised the hps light as high as i can possibly raise it without drilling holes in the ceiling. i'm debating on killing it or transplanting it somewhere outdoors where no one will find it. one way or the other, unless she stops growing, she's gettin the axe.

plant four hasn't shown any hairs yet while 1-3 are hairy as ever.

i may just end up killing all these bitches and starting again when i have a better space. as things stand right now, the apartment reeks like someone just opened a jar of fresh cured bud. so i need to implement some sort of air control. as well as temp control and humidity.

i'm going to set aside some money to build a stealth grow box similar to one i saw in another thread.

my buddy gave me some seeds to play with, but i dunno if i should mess them. i don't wanna ruin yet another batch of perfectly good seeds. i got some jack herer, black russian and good old OG Kush.

i definitely learned a lot of what you SHOULDNT do during a grow....

any ideas?

 

[Lester Freeman]

Tried to warn you when the time was right, if you did LST you'd be bathing in branches and bud in a horizontal even canopy...
you live and learn mate.

 

[KingJohnC]

i will guess this grow is over with. can you please summarize what you have learned from this grow?

 

[Tokist]

i will guess this grow is over with. can you please summarize what you have learned from this grow?

yessir, i sure can! what i learned from this grow is that you can't get greedy and outgrow your space. and you sure as hell cant read a bunch of grow logs and expect things to go as smoothly as it did for everyone else

unfortunately, i fucked with those plants way too much, it's really hard for me to pinpoint "where i went wrong". im pretty sure it was a culmination of everything (which you can read about in this log). my head got too big and i thought i knew what i was doing.

my current grow was done correctly from the start. just let the plants alone and they'll do their thing. which is why they're all bushy and super, duper tall. i think they stand at right about five feet.

maybe this time around i'll finish a grow.