PuffPuffPass's Phototron 9 Grow

[PuffPuffPass]

We had a slight setback.. Being this is all new to me, when I transplanted to the permenant 5 gallon pot in the phototron, I added the new automatic watering system, with the 10 gallon reserve tank. Now what I should have done was used the other attachment which plugs into a 1 gallon milk jug which you can put just a little in to ensure the thing is running properly. But no, I figured I knew what the hell I was doing..

So, this morning, I went in to check my plants and I found 5 gallons of soup where the soil used to be.. This of course shocked the plants really bad and I cleaned it all up, put in new soil, reset the feeder with about 1/4 gallon of water in the milk jug and am waiting to see what happens..

If the plants die I still have plenty of seeds to start over... Live and learn..

[PuffPuffPass]

Some times I even amaze myself... After performing emergency surgery on my phototron, doing a full soil transplant, and the plants which were shocked so bad I thought for sure they were gonners, have come back to life with a vengence. In the last few days, they have not only fully recovered but have been sprouting a full new set of leaves every two days.

The interesting thing I am noting about the phototron vs outdoor or overhead lights is that the plants tend to be short and compact vs tall and spread out. Each new set of leaves is less than 1/16th of an inch above the last set. Typically in the past with lighted grows I noticed the plants tended to grow upward straining to reach the light source. But the trons lighting is all from the sides so the the plants seem to redirect their growth energy to site production rather than upward towards the light source.

I think I have figured out my mistake with the automatic watering system, and it seems to be functioning normally now, going through a gallon of water a week or so. The unit has a sensor which monitors the soil and delivers water when needed. Once I am convinced it is working perfectly, I will move the intake source over to the 10 gallon watertank, which in theory should supply enough water for the entire growth period of 90 days.

I'm gonna let them go for about a week and then I will post pics..

[PuffPuffPass]

Plant #1 (ICE) at 2 weeks



Plant #2 (Grapefruit) at two weeks


Plant #3 (Purple Urkle) at two weeks



All plants inside the phototron at two weeks

[bluebox223]

im gonna be watching this grow, i have always wondered how well these things work for dank. which model do you have (how many lumens?).your plants are looking healthy, you say they are 3 different strains? they almost look identical in leaf formation, color, etc. do you know if the strains are closely related? keep it up and good luck. peace.

[PuffPuffPass]

Originally Posted by bluebox223

ive been waiting to see pics on here for a while glad you got it all straightened out. im gonna be watching this grow, i have always wondered how well these things work for dank. which model do you have (how many lumens?).your plants are looking healthy, you say they are 3 different strains? they almost look identical in leaf formation, color, etc. do you know if the strains are closely related? keep it up and good luck. peace.

I have the phototron series 9, 51" tall at 36000 lumens, plus another 6000 lumen top bulb.. The plants are about 2 weeks worth of growth, since I had a slight disaster with the automatic feeder which turned my soil to soup. Got that all straightened out and they are taking off. They differ in color, which you really cant see in the photos.. The Urkle is much darker green than the others, but the other two are quite alike in both color and formation. The stalks differ though, one being very bright green, while the second is a very dark green. They are popping a new series of leaves about every two days.

There are some pretty detailed descriptions of what I am using at the beginning of this thread.

[PuffPuffPass]

Plant #1 Lateral shoots beginning to form... Plant now 9" tall



Plant #2 also 9" lateral shoots also beginning to form



Plant #3 seems to be lagging a bit, not nearly as much growth, only 8" and not nearly as much leaf formation, but this one came from seed from a dispensory and not from the seedbank.

All plants are about 2 1/2 weeks old at this point..

[PuffPuffPass]

Well the plants were getting so big that they were burning on the lights so I started the pinching process as described in the manual. After pinching, they look funny, but the manual is very specific.. I will transcribe some of it here, as it will apply to all grows, not just phototron grows. I was seriously wondering how the heck you could get 6 plants to grow inside this thing, but after pinching the plants, I can sure see it now.. I have 3 in it as you all know.. Kinda wishing I had went with 6 now, but oh well...

Plant growth in the phototron is a function of leaf removal called pinching and lateral shoot cutting called pruning. The greater the leaf removal or lateral shoot cutting, the longer it will take your plants to reach the top of the system. If pruning and pinching instructions are followed exactly, one plant may produce over 1000 (!!!) budding sites. If plants are allowed to grow without any pinching or pruning, you plants will reach the top of the system in less than 45 days, with an average of 3-inch internodel lengths. This type will have less budding sites. How many less? HUNDREDS LESS!

Remove all leaves from the main stem as they reach four inches in length. This leaf removal is referred to as pinching. Use a pair of scissors to do the cutting of the leaf stem at mid point. Remove all leaves from the lateral shoots as they reach 3 inches in length. This leaf removal is also called pinching. As with the leaves from the main stem, cut the leaves at mid point.

The term Lateral shoot and branch are interchangable. As a primary lateral shoot starts to grow out from the main stem, allow this branch to for the first node with the first 2 leaves beginning to open up. The branch should be allowed to grow 1/4 beyond the first node. Cut the branch halfway between the node and the terminal bud. A terminal bud is the leafset that is beginning to open up at the end.

You will have secondary lateral shoots develop from the first node. As the secondary lateral shoots develop, prune them by removing each shoots terminal bud after every other node. This is accomplished by allowing the shoots to grow 1/4 inch past the scond node then removing the terminal bud of the secondary shoot. Always cut as far away from the node as possible to prevent the stripping of branching sites.

[JDJP]

Originally Posted by PuffPuffPass

Well the plants were getting so big that they were burning on the lights so I started the pinching process as described in the manual. After pinching, they look funny, but the manual is very specific.. I will transcribe some of it here, as it will apply to all grows, not just phototron grows. I was seriously wondering how the heck you could get 6 plants to grow inside this thing, but after pinching the plants, I can sure see it now.. I have 3 in it as you all know.. Kinda wishing I had went with 6 now, but oh well...

Plant growth in the phototron is a function of leaf removal called pinching and lateral shoot cutting called pruning. The greater the leaf removal or lateral shoot cutting, the longer it will take your plants to reach the top of the system. If pruning and pinching instructions are followed exactly, one plant may produce over 1000 (!!!) budding sites. If plants are allowed to grow without any pinching or pruning, you plants will reach the top of the system in less than 45 days, with an average of 3-inch internodel lengths. This type will have less budding sites. How many less? HUNDREDS LESS!

Remove all leaves from the main stem as they reach four inches in length. This leaf removal is referred to as pinching. Use a pair of scissors to do the cutting of the leaf stem at mid point. Remove all leaves from the lateral shoots as they reach 3 inches in length. This leaf removal is also called pinching. As with the leaves from the main stem, cut the leaves at mid point.

The term Lateral shoot and branch are interchangable. As a primary lateral shoot starts to grow out from the main stem, allow this branch to for the first node with the first 2 leaves beginning to open up. The branch should be allowed to grow 1/4 beyond the first node. Cut the branch halfway between the node and the terminal bud. A terminal bud is the leafset that is beginning to open up at the end.

You will have secondary lateral shoots develop from the first node. As the secondary lateral shoots develop, prune them by removing each shoots terminal bud after every other node. This is accomplished by allowing the shoots to grow 1/4 inch past the scond node then removing the terminal bud of the secondary shoot. Always cut as far away from the node as possible to prevent the stripping of branching sites.

Im wondering what other growers think of doing this... bump it up

[PuffPuffPass]

Originally Posted by JDJP

Im wondering what other growers think of doing this... bump it up

This morning, I looked at the largest of the three plants which are now about 14" tall... They are only about 6" wide each, and the biggest plant had over 50 budding sites already... Not that they are budding yet, but according to the documentation, that is where they will buds form..

I have been skeptical myself, but the Pyroponics people have been building these things and perfecting them going on over 20+ years now. I have to believe they know what they are doing, and from the looks of my plants so far, I believe it. I have never seen a plant develope budding sites like this in any grow of mine, even the outdoor ones when I lived in Hawaii. Sure, I got good buds out of untouched plants, but the volume of them on these is rediculous..

[rds_sk8er420]

puff puff do you have a diagram im not too sure abuot hte deffinitions of some of that but im gonna try finding out.

[PuffPuffPass]

Originally Posted by rds_sk8er420

puff puff do you have a diagram im not too sure abuot hte deffinitions of some of that but im gonna try finding out.

Actually yes I do.

In the meantime, here are a couple new photos

[PuffPuffPass]

Plant growth in the phototron is a function of leaf removal called pinching and lateral shoot cutting called pruning. The greater the leaf removal or lateral shoot cutting, the longer it will take your plants to reach the top of the system. If pruning and pinching instructions are followed exactly, one plant may produce over 1000 (!!!) budding sites. If plants are allowed to grow without any pinching or pruning, you plants will reach the top of the system in less than 45 days, with an average of 3-inch internodel lengths. This type will have less budding sites. How many less? HUNDREDS LESS!

Remove all leaves from the main stem as they reach four inches in length. This leaf removal is referred to as pinching. Use a pair of scissors to do the cutting of the leaf stem at mid point.



Remove all leaves from the lateral shoots as they reach 3 inches in length. This leaf removal is also called pinching. As with the leaves from the main stem, cut the leaves at mid point.



The term Lateral shoot and branch are interchangable. As a primary lateral shoot starts to grow out from the main stem, allow this branch to form the first node with the first 2 leaves beginning to open up. The branch should be allowed to grow 1/4" beyond the first node. Cut the branch halfway between the node and the terminal bud. A terminal bud is the leafset that is beginning to open up at the end.




You will have secondary lateral shoots develop from the first node. As the secondary lateral shoots develop, prune them by removing each shoots terminal bud after every other node. This is accomplished by allowing the shoots to grow 1/4 " past the second node then removing the terminal bud of the secondary shoot. Always cut as far away from the node as possible to prevent the stripping of branching sites.



Afterwards the plants will look like a whack attack has occurred, but I am told by my friend who has 6 of these units that the results are amazing.. With each whack attack, the plants energy is redirected into creating new lateral shoots, which later become budding sites or so I am told. I actually kinda panicked after my first whack attack because my plants looked so fucked up. I called my friend who chucked and told me to take a valium and check them the next day. Sure enough within about 24-36 hours, every where I had whacked, new shoots were forming.. Each new shoot is a budding site, so figure every whack is a bud.

[JDJP]

Hey do you have to stick out your pinky finger when you trim, like in the picture?

Im looking foward to seeing what your planys produce, I might have to try this out too.

[PuffPuffPass]

Originally Posted by JDJP

Hey do you have to stick out your pinky finger when you trim, like in the picture?

Im looking foward to seeing what your planys produce, I might have to try this out too.

Lol... I never noticed that until now... I have been doing it wrong the whole time??!!

[PuffPuffPass]

Here is an example of the new shoot growth after 24 hours from a pinch spot..