First CFL Grow Using 30 Watt CFLs

[miwa]

I did know what the temp were suppose to be...i just try to keep it below 70...if they can live in a refridge...i don't think i would worry about too cool of a temp...i'd keep it in the 60s ...but they will tell you when they are uncomf......

 

[Xlr8]

I did know what the temp were suppose to be...i just try to keep it below 70...if they can live in a refridge...i don't think i would worry about too cool of a temp...i'd keep it in the 60s ...but they will tell you when they are uncomf......

Bingo! I think between about 60-70 is ideal. Definitely want to keep it under 70f, better yet under 68f. I try to keep my reservoirs between about 62f and 67f. Above 70f and they water isn't able to hold adequate levels of D.O. (dissolved oxygen) and there is greater risk of things like root rot, etc...

 

[donpaul.p]

thanks for the info X, just what i needed to know, reps if it lets me.

i planted a couple more seeds, i got 2 purple widows planted, an pyramid auto purple, dinafem diesel i think it was, so i got plenty growing, my place stinks now with these plants not far off done, 2 of them are all cloudy and ive been giving plain water for 2 weeks now but still the leaves are not turning yellow, im thinking about reducing the bpn to every 3rd feed with the soil plants, clearly the plants are still getting enough nutes out the soil else id have some yellow or light green leaves, the smaller 2ltr soil grows needed some nutes as these started getting lighter leaves so that had a good feed yesterday, but the plants that are nearly finished seem to be looking as green as normal,

a couple of pics for you all here,
now the 1st 2 are a 2ltr dwc hempie, not sure which one, but im just showing how quick the roots grow, 3 days ago all that was in the water was a single tap root, it went down to the bottom of the res, then yesterday when i cleaned the res i was shocked at the amount of roots, so these 2 pics show this 2ltr dwc hempie and its root mass,

now the next 2 pics are from the plant i did the leaf removal method on, this plant stinks the whole place out, the buds are solid and keep getting fatter, as its getting closer to harvest they seem to be packing on a lot more weight, the difference in a week is shocking,

its covered in trichs, it seems to have got a whole lot more trichs since removing all the leaves, i took off any leaf that had a stem of 1.5inch or more, basically or that it left was the leaves poking out the buds, i thought it would make the buds leafy but it has not, its just made them a whole lot fatter,

 

[fish cake]

Looking good DP or should I call you Master Don

 

[Xlr8]

Yeah baby! That is some damned sexy sticky icky Don. Those look so good and very healthy.

 

[iSmokes]

That looks delicious donpaul! I see many growers are successful with defoliation. Did you keep track of when to defoliate? I think day 21&45 is the magic number? I think I saw this on 420fied's SOGs.

 

[soysawce]

donpaul question what is that thing you have your plant in? with all the roots how do i set one of these up could you tell me what to do or is there a guide? I been looking to try a grow like this.

 

[donpaul.p]

thanks for all the comments,
the plant is super sticky, cant wait to harvest it, got 2 of that strain.

i did not have a day planned for the leaf removal, my plants where further into flower than day 21 when i tried it, from now on ill be doing it earlier and start in veg, then when in flower ill remove leaves after the plants have finished their stretch.

@soy, basically what it is is a small dwc set up,

what i do is this, i get a 2ltr pop bottle, now just where the bottle thins at the top, so about the top 1/4 of a 2ltr pop bottle, i cut this off, so this is the part with the pop bottle lid on it and the part that goes thinner as it goes to the top of the bottle, so now i have 3/4 of a 2ltr bottle thats the same size from top to bottom, then i have the top 1/4 which is the neck of the bottle and the part that the lid is attached to,
so the 3/4 of the pop bottles is the res, i cover this to stop light getting in, now the top part i flip upside down so the lid of the pop bottle is facing down, now i poke several holes around the neck of the bottle for roots to grow through, i then put about 2 inches of soil in this top part so now its acting like a small pot or one of those net pots you use in hydro, then i transplant a young seedling into this top part, i then unscrew the lid and the soil stays in the top part,

at this point i dont put any nutrient in the res, i wait until i see roots growing out the hole where the lid of the bottle was, as soon as i see roots here i fill the bottom part with the nutrient mix and i fill it up so that when i put the top part inside the bottom part their is a small gap about 2cm between the top part and the res, then when the roots his the res they grow like crazy, in the res i fit a small air stone in the bottom and have this running when the lights are on,

this is called a 2ltr dwc hempie, its basically a small dwc set up, people use these when they lolly pop plants, but i dont lolly pop them, i get more yield when i dont lolly pop, the main bud might not be as fat but i certainly get more.

hopefully you can follow what im saying, tomorrow ill do a step by step guide and use pics so you can all see the whole process from start to finish, then ill link it in my sig so anyone can click on it, ive had a few people ask about this method and how to set it up.

basically i go 12-12 from seed with these, its an 8 week turn around like that, but i give 1 week under 24-0 to give them a boost, this makes it a 9 week turn around time, plus a 2ltr bottle dont take up any room, i average 20g dry if i lolly pop and over an oz if i dont, so if i did 10 of these every 9 weeks and got the lower 20g dry then this would give me 200g every 9 weeks, i could easily fit 100 of these in my grow room, so 100 xx 20 would be 2000g of dry bud every 9 weeks, but you could stagger it, start say 5 every week then after week 9 you will have a harvest every week, but i cant have high plant numbers so i just do a couple here and their.

this time im doing 2ltr dwc and 2ltr none dwc, so ill compare the yields, the none dwc is just a 2ltr pop bottle the same size as the res filled with soil and a seedling growing in it, both the res and the soil are the same size so i can compare the yield at the end

 

[donpaul.p]

ill try and find a guide for you, ill post one myself tomorrow if i cant find you one, cant find any guides mate, teSmp had one in his last journal with pics, ill take a few pics tomorrow and do a step by step guide, i need to put it in my sig as i have had a few people ask about setting these up

 

[spring2012]

DP the pics look great. That is a regular right? Im convinced to start a DWC hempie. I think ill do one DWC and One in Coir useing a 3 gallon pot.

 

[donpaul.p]

what you mean by regular mate, are you on about the size of the pop bottle, if you are then thats a regular 2ltr pop bottle, they dont do them much bigger than that here mate, not unless you go with a juice bottle for concentrated juice, just didnt fancy cleaning one of them out though, plus 2ltr pop bottle is ideal size

 

[spring2012]

My fault! I was asking if the beautiful plant with the frost all over it was an auto or regular? II just posted some pics of my Auto#1 on my thread. It looks like its ready to come down. The trichs are like 80 to 90% milky. Only a tiny bit of amber on one bud. Is it posibble to be done at day 47? This is what the Strain info is ( sorry to jack your thread )

Auto #1 is our original autoflowering dwarf variety. At one of the lowest prices on the market, Auto #1 makes a great entry level strain. No separate room or light cycle is needed to flower. Passing directly from seed to the flowering stage does away with the vegetative growth period altogether so it finishes as fast as any other auto in our range. When creating Auto #1 we wanted a strain with an improved yield and taste whilst maintaining all the benefits of an autoflowering dwarf like Lowryder. Not only that, it has one of the lowest odour levels of any auto making it an excellent discreet grow. If given 20 or even 22 hours of light, the results can be truly satisfying. More vigorous and with a greater psychoactive effect, Auto #1 has a better taste than Lowryder and many typical autoflowering strains. It is considered very easy to grow, almost foolproof, and its dwarf like height makes it ideal for balconies, terraces or any place where space is limited. Auto #1 will thrive in most climate zones provided it is given plenty of light (even very northern latitudes).

Type: Indica/Sativa/Ruderalis
Height: 25cm-75cm
Harvest: 60-70 days from seed
Stone: All round body buzz
Medium: Medium

 

[grogreen]

you just use regular tap water DP? For watering and the 2L dwc?

 

[donpaul.p]

no mate none of them plants are autos, my autos are still sprouts

@grogreen, yep mate, all i use is tap water, i let it stand for 24 hours to remove chlorine then i water my plants with that, i now feed my soil plants every 3rd feed with bpn, i was giving them a feed with every water, but it was clearly to much as none of my leaves are turning yellow on the plants that are nearly done, i flushed about 14 days ago, and been giving plain water since then, i have not got any sign of yellow leaves, my plants still look super healthy, the only ones i needed to give nutes to was the plants in smaller pots, so clearly the bigger pots was full of nutes, not enough to get nute burn but enough to keep the plant healthy after going this long with no nutes.

i use tap water and bpn in my dwc setups mate, but what i do is use bpn and water for a week or 2, then instead of giving nutes again i fill the res with tap water and also water the top with plant tap water, then i let it suck up just the plain water with no nutes for 24 hours, then i empty the res and refill with nute rich water, following the guide on bpn site i have had no problems with nute burn in the dwc, but i like to give them plain water say once every 2 weeks just to wash out the soil in the top part and to let the plant have some water with no nutes, but after 24 hours i tip the plain water out and fill with tap water and nutes.

as i dont need a whole gallon of bpn mixture what i do is fill a 2ltr pop bottle with tap water and let it stand over night with the lid off, well i do a few bottles so i have always go water when i need it, then i just add half of what it says on the bpn feeding guide as 2ltr is about half a gallon, so i find this the best method for me with the nutes.

i got some more seeds and here is what i got, got these delivered the other day some you all ready know about and ive all ready planted some.
12 x DE sjamaan purple widow, all these seeds are from herbies
1 x delicious fruity chronic juice fem, grown this before and got one growing now in seedling stage
2 x big bud #2, i grew this before but have not had a fem yet, but got 2 in seedling stage in the 2ltr grows im doing now
4 x sleestack cross skunk regular, got 2 of these growing, 1 is male the other is seedling stage, might keep male for breeding but not 100% sure yet
1 x dinafem diesel fem
1 x pyramid auto super hash plant.

i have been planting seeds the last couple of days for the 2ltr grows
i have also planted a pyramid auto purple, sprouted and is growing,
the seed i got from the auto, well i got 2 from it if you remember, this was out the middle of the auto blueberry, 1 sprouted and is growing well and will be transplanting to bigger pot tomorrow
my sleestack twin is doing ok as well, both twins seem healthy and growing well.

now i got a shed load of seeds from my cross i did with the sour kush and kiwi cross, i soaked about 5 seeds and 2 sprouted and both are in seedling stage,

ill do a proper run down tomorrow what i got, its hard to remember, but none of these will be big plants, their all going to be 2ltr dwc and 2ltr none dwc hempies, the autos will go into pots and i might try the auto purple as a 2ltr dwc hempie and see what happens, i dont lolly pop my 2ltr grows as i get less back, i know it gives you one big bud but id prefer to have more bud than just 1 big bud,

 

[soysawce]

Making a guide would be such a great help. When you make one and I make it do I need hydro grow big? Because there is 2 kinds from fox farm I have the soil version. Also if you could make a video that would be too amazing but I don't know how much free time you have haha. Pictures will be fine though. .

 

[JamesTheGreen]

Hey DPP, How Goes It My Man??? Pretty Good , If The Pictures Are Telling The Truth!!! The Plants Look Wonderful, AS ALWAYS!!! I Have One Thing To Say About Plants That Get Their Leafs Taken Off. Some People Believe That When One Removes Leafs From A Plant, The Reason It Appears The Plant Gets Bigger, Is Because The Leafs That Were There Made Everything Look Smaller Than It Is, By Removing Them, Ones Eyes Tend To Re-Notice What Was Always There In A New Way!!! Therefore Making One See The Growth That Does Happen Seem So Much More Significant As The Leaves Are No longer There For A Size Reference. See What I Mean, Or Does It Sound Like A Bunch Of Balderdash Too You, LOL!!! But Don(HAHA) I Know You Know Whats Up, And I Would Be Happy To Try A Sample The Next Time I See You, LOL!!!

I Love The Hempies, Those Things Are The Most Amazing Things(I BELIEVE) That I Have Seen Someone Grow From, They're Just So COOL!!! It Might Of Been You And Surf Buddy, Don, That Grew The Last Ones I Saw On Here. They Give Me Goose Bumps...And That's A Good Thing!!! I Feel Like The Last Smilie, You'll Figure Out Why Soon Enough!!! Take Care Don And Gro Green, My MAN Spring UUUUUYYYYRRRRRAAHHHH!!! Did That For You Spring!!! And Hello Fish Cake, My Brother!!! Whats Up XLR8 My Friend, How Are You??? And Hello I Smokes And Soysawce, Take care All!!! SINCERELY, JAMESTHEGREEN.

 

[donpaul.p]

i hear you JTG, the buds on the plant i tool the leaves from are bigger than the buds on the plant i did not touch, so i think it has worked but ill know more around harvest, i wont be getting much of these plants though, my soil mixture is not right,

@soy, im just taking some pics now and ill give a step by step guide on what i did,
not to sure on the nutes either, i have always used the 3 part plus bloom booster from bpn, and as long as i follow the guide on the bpn site then i dont have any problems,

give me a few minutes to take some pics and ill get this guide up for you mate

 

[donpaul.p]

right mate, here is a quick guide, hopefully you can follow it, i cant do a video as my fone is to crappy,

so you start off with a 2ltr pop bottle, now where i have marked it with tape is roughly where you want to cut it, so id cut this at the bottom of the tape, then the top part becomes the growing medium to hold the plant in, same as a net pot, so in theory you could use clay pellets in the top the same as hydro or a big dwc. then the bottom part becomes the res, make sure the res is covered to stop light getting to the roots and the liquid as this will cause algae to form in the res

i cut this a bit to short, the top part needs to be about an inch bigger than the one in the pic, you will see further down what i mean

so now you have the part that holds the plant and the res

below is a working model so you can see exactly what i did, now the top part that holds the plant has holes poked around the neck so the roots can grow out of here as well as out of the hole where the lid usually screws on, these next pictures will show you my actual 2ltr dwc and how it works, i poke a hole in the top of the res so i can feed an air pipe through and this then attatched to an air stone in the bottom of the res, i have grown with an air stone and without and to be honest it made very little difference, but i prefer to use it as the water dont get used up as quick when the plant is young so i like to have air in their to stop any issues with the roots

here you can see the air pipe coming out of a hole near the top of the res

below is the top part that the plant is held in and this is the part that allows the roots to grow through it into the res

now below you can clearly see the roots coming out of the hole where the lid usually screws on, but you can also see the holes i poked around the neck of the bottle as the roots also grow out of here, now i fill the top with soil and then take the lid of the bottle off, this stops soil falling out as you fill it,
some growers prefer to leave the lid on the bottle and drill holes in it to let the roots grow through, how ever i found the roots become restricted as they dont have much space to grow through, by leaving the lid off the roots are not forced through any holes and they grow freely as you can clearly see

now for the res, what i do is test fit the top part into the bottom part, then i mark where the lid of the top part is when its put together, this gives me a guide on how far to fill it with liquid, i always make sure their is about half an inch gap between the bottom of the top part and the liquid in the res, doing this stops the bubbles in the water loosening the soil and allowing it to fall into the res, so their is about half an inch of root that is not in the res, this is the best method and works well

now you can see both pieces so you can work out the rough size

not the best guide mate but it should give you some idea of what i was doing and did, if you have any problems give me a shout, its pretty easy once you have made 1, it works well and the roots and the plant grow like crazy when the roots hit the res, i dont put any liquid in the res till i can actually see the roots starting to grow out of the top part, as soon as i see this i fill the res up, they are not very stable with no water in the res, and later on in the grow it can become top heavy so it needs to be on a flat surface, as the plant uses up the liquid in the res then this makes it top heavy, once the res is full its pretty stable,

when the plant is in flower it will drink all the liquid in the res in about 36 hours at the most, so keeping on top of it is something that needs doing, i check mine daily to check levels and top up as needed,

hope thats some help to you mate

 

[spring2012]

Dp,
I'm off to get what I need to try this as well. If I use Black duct tape will that work to cover up the res? Also I assume I can do this with an American style 2ltr? They look much fatter than the one in your pic. Gonna go by an air stone and tube now. I know you answered this before but do I need to use nutes for hydro grows or soil?

 

[iSmokes]

oh wow, that's a handy DIY dwc. Thanks for the instructions donpaul.
Spring you're right, 2L in the US is fatter (irony lol?). Maybe use donpaul's techniques on one of those 1Gal water bottles? The ones that actually resemble a bottle rather than a "gallon". I think I might give that a shot too.